Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
FakeNoose
FakeNoose's Journal
FakeNoose's Journal
September 26, 2023
Oh yeah, she's PRO-CHOICE but she's making a great point as well.
Bless this bad-ass woman and her awesome protest poster!
Oh yeah, she's PRO-CHOICE but she's making a great point as well.
September 26, 2023
Link: https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/donald-trump-is-a-menace-to-democracy
- more at link -
Link to Claudia Long's writeup on THE 2025 PROJECT: https://claudialong.substack.com/p/american-fascism-coming-to-a-government
(If you choose not to give your email, you can click on "No Thanks" and still read the article.)
I have all the confidence in the world in our Democratic Party leadership, and I do trust and believe in Joe Biden. I know he'll be re-elected next year. But I also know that there are a lot of skeevy, corrupt Repukes and Libertarian-types out there who will do ANYthing to see Biden lose. Why they support the idiot Donald Chump, I'll never understand.
Jeff Tiedrich asks a really important question: Where the fuck is the media? That's been my question ever since 2015. A lot of us here on DU are disgusted with the media's dereliction or outright failure.
Tiedrich rant: Donald Trump is a menace to democracy. where the fuck is the media?
Link: https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/donald-trump-is-a-menace-to-democracy
this isn’t some paranoid left-wing fantasy.
right now, Republicans are working to make this happen — and they’re not even bothering to keep it a secret. they’re bragging about it. they’ve published their plan. it has a name: the 2025 Project.
their scheme is to purge the entire government rank and file and replace them with Trump loyalists. that’s right, everybody — from the highest levels of the federal government all the way down to your local dogcatcher. and they’re not waiting until 2025 — they’ve already started recruiting foot-soldiers.
once everything is in place, we’ll stop having stupid little things like elections, or freedom, or democracy. read the whole thing. it will scare the living fuck out of you.
right now, Republicans are working to make this happen — and they’re not even bothering to keep it a secret. they’re bragging about it. they’ve published their plan. it has a name: the 2025 Project.
their scheme is to purge the entire government rank and file and replace them with Trump loyalists. that’s right, everybody — from the highest levels of the federal government all the way down to your local dogcatcher. and they’re not waiting until 2025 — they’ve already started recruiting foot-soldiers.
once everything is in place, we’ll stop having stupid little things like elections, or freedom, or democracy. read the whole thing. it will scare the living fuck out of you.
- more at link -
Link to Claudia Long's writeup on THE 2025 PROJECT: https://claudialong.substack.com/p/american-fascism-coming-to-a-government
(If you choose not to give your email, you can click on "No Thanks" and still read the article.)
I have all the confidence in the world in our Democratic Party leadership, and I do trust and believe in Joe Biden. I know he'll be re-elected next year. But I also know that there are a lot of skeevy, corrupt Repukes and Libertarian-types out there who will do ANYthing to see Biden lose. Why they support the idiot Donald Chump, I'll never understand.
Jeff Tiedrich asks a really important question: Where the fuck is the media? That's been my question ever since 2015. A lot of us here on DU are disgusted with the media's dereliction or outright failure.
September 26, 2023
Spotlight PA link: https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2023/09/pennsylvania-ticketmaster-live-nation-secondary-market-taylor-swift/
This is an update to last Sunday's ticket-scam story here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/107419208
- more at link -
All I know is, if Ticketmaster supports these PA bills, then their lobbies probably wrote the bills. That's how things work in Pennsylvania as well as most other states. Something skeevy is happening in order for Ticketmaster to protect its huge market advantage. They will never willingly allow competition to step in on their sweet deal.
Democratic leaders in the House need to be a little smarter about this.
Update to the ticket reselling controversy in PA
Spotlight PA link: https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2023/09/pennsylvania-ticketmaster-live-nation-secondary-market-taylor-swift/
This is an update to last Sunday's ticket-scam story here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/107419208
HARRISBURG — Following a summer of extreme sticker shock among concertgoers seeking to see megastars like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, Pennsylvania policymakers are considering legislation that would restrict deceptive ticket sales practices. But consumer advocates and the tech lobby argue that as written, the bills may reinforce Ticketmaster’s monopoly on the live events industry and hurt concertgoers' ability to buy and sell tickets to their favorite shows on the secondary market.
One state House lawmaker wants to ban the use of bots to purchase tickets or other products, while another representative has introduced legislation that would restrict speculative ticketing, which is when a reseller markets tickets that they do not own at the time of sale but hope to acquire before the event.
Both bills are supported by Ticketmaster, which merged in 2010 with events promoter Live Nation amid federal scrutiny and gained a 70% market share in the ticket-selling industry. That share extends to the secondary market. According to a 2022 regulatory filing, the company handled $4.5 billion in ticket resales that year, more than double its total from 2019.
The legislation awaits consideration in the state House Consumer Protection, Technology & Utilities Committee. State Rep. Rob Matzie (D., Beaver), the committee’s chair, told Spotlight PA he plans to hold votes on the bills in the coming weeks as the chamber returns to session.
One state House lawmaker wants to ban the use of bots to purchase tickets or other products, while another representative has introduced legislation that would restrict speculative ticketing, which is when a reseller markets tickets that they do not own at the time of sale but hope to acquire before the event.
Both bills are supported by Ticketmaster, which merged in 2010 with events promoter Live Nation amid federal scrutiny and gained a 70% market share in the ticket-selling industry. That share extends to the secondary market. According to a 2022 regulatory filing, the company handled $4.5 billion in ticket resales that year, more than double its total from 2019.
The legislation awaits consideration in the state House Consumer Protection, Technology & Utilities Committee. State Rep. Rob Matzie (D., Beaver), the committee’s chair, told Spotlight PA he plans to hold votes on the bills in the coming weeks as the chamber returns to session.
- more at link -
All I know is, if Ticketmaster supports these PA bills, then their lobbies probably wrote the bills. That's how things work in Pennsylvania as well as most other states. Something skeevy is happening in order for Ticketmaster to protect its huge market advantage. They will never willingly allow competition to step in on their sweet deal.
Democratic leaders in the House need to be a little smarter about this.
September 25, 2023
Link: https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/good-fucking-riddance-to-rupert-fucking
- more at link -
I wish I could share this ENTIRE rant with you, because it's so on target. But I can't because ... copyrights.
This is an awesome rant by Jeff Tiedrich.
Please click on the link and read the rest of it. Even better, join his free email list.
I've been getting his daily newsletters ever since he left Xwitter, and he's awesome every day.
Thanks Jeff Tiedrich! You are the best.
Tiedrich rant: good fucking riddance to Rupert Fucking Murdoch
Link: https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/good-fucking-riddance-to-rupert-fucking
Rupert Fucking Murdoch is stepping down as chairman of Fox Corporation and News Corp. good fucking riddance.
he leaves the media landscape littered with the destruction he has wreaked.
the media crimes and atrocities perpetrated by Mudroch and his toadies are unforgivable. he bought once-respected newspapers, dumbed them down and turned them into scandal sheets and propaganda rags. he meddled in politics. his people hacked telephones, made secret recordings and bribed police. but worst of all, Murdoch is responsible for the toxic shitpile known as Fox News.
Fox News feeds its viewers a completely false version of reality where up is down, black is white, Republicans are paragons of incorruptible virtue and Democrats are evil communists hell-bent on destroying America. Fox scares the shit out of its aging white male audience by blaming women, gays, and brown and black people for the problems caused by greedy plutocrats.....
- snip -
when a covid vaccine was finally developed, Rupert Murdoch elbowed his way to the front of the line so he could be first to get one. all Fox employees and guests had to show proof of vaccination in order to enter the Fox building. yet to this day, Fox bobbleheads promote covid denialism and air baseless and dangerous anti-vax nonsense.
he leaves the media landscape littered with the destruction he has wreaked.
the media crimes and atrocities perpetrated by Mudroch and his toadies are unforgivable. he bought once-respected newspapers, dumbed them down and turned them into scandal sheets and propaganda rags. he meddled in politics. his people hacked telephones, made secret recordings and bribed police. but worst of all, Murdoch is responsible for the toxic shitpile known as Fox News.
Fox News feeds its viewers a completely false version of reality where up is down, black is white, Republicans are paragons of incorruptible virtue and Democrats are evil communists hell-bent on destroying America. Fox scares the shit out of its aging white male audience by blaming women, gays, and brown and black people for the problems caused by greedy plutocrats.....
- snip -
when a covid vaccine was finally developed, Rupert Murdoch elbowed his way to the front of the line so he could be first to get one. all Fox employees and guests had to show proof of vaccination in order to enter the Fox building. yet to this day, Fox bobbleheads promote covid denialism and air baseless and dangerous anti-vax nonsense.
- more at link -
I wish I could share this ENTIRE rant with you, because it's so on target. But I can't because ... copyrights.
This is an awesome rant by Jeff Tiedrich.
Please click on the link and read the rest of it. Even better, join his free email list.
I've been getting his daily newsletters ever since he left Xwitter, and he's awesome every day.
Thanks Jeff Tiedrich! You are the best.
September 24, 2023
Link: https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/will-they-make-me-wear-an-orange
- more at link -
Also Tiedrich discusses Chump's comments about General Mark Milley.
Great rant here, as always.
Tiedrich rant: the threat of prison has broken Donald Trump's brain
Link: https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/will-they-make-me-wear-an-orange
as he wanders through the halls of his shitty, vermin-infested Florida golf motel — alone, friendless, unloved, his Slovenian trophy wife nowhere to be found — the quadrice-indicted twice-impeached popular-vote-losing adderall-huffing insurrection-leading judge-threatening lawyer-ignoring witness-tampering disabled-veteran-dishonoring inheritance-squandering language-mangling serial-sexual-predating draft-dodging casino-bankrupting daughter-perving hush-money-paying real-estate-scamming bone-spur-faking ketchup-hurling justice-obstructing classified-war-plan-thieving weather-map-defacing horse-paste-promoting paper-towel-flinging tax-cheating evidence-destroying charity-defrauding money-laundering diaper-filling 91-count fluorescent tangerine crime-factory has one thing on his mind:
what will it be like when I go to prison?
... ha ha. good. this soft, pampered slug — this privileged overgrown baby whose greatest worry up to now has been “am I getting the most ice cream?” — let this keep him up at night. let it rot what’s left of his brain. just deserts, bro. just deserts.
what will it be like when I go to prison?
... ha ha. good. this soft, pampered slug — this privileged overgrown baby whose greatest worry up to now has been “am I getting the most ice cream?” — let this keep him up at night. let it rot what’s left of his brain. just deserts, bro. just deserts.
- more at link -
Also Tiedrich discusses Chump's comments about General Mark Milley.
Great rant here, as always.
September 24, 2023
Philly Inquirer link: https://www.inquirer.com/business/fake-ticket-resellers-stubhub-seatgeek-20230924.html
- more at link -
Ticket-buying tips from the Philly Inquirer:
I would add to these: NEVER buy anything on Facebook.
But that's just me.
Fed up with ticket scams? So are some Pa. lawmakers who want to get tougher on reseller
Philly Inquirer link: https://www.inquirer.com/business/fake-ticket-resellers-stubhub-seatgeek-20230924.html
Frances Dwyer sent $150 to the person on Facebook who claimed to be reselling two tickets to the Luke Combs concert in July. Dwyer told the person, whose Facebook profile included photos with children dressed in Eagles gear, that she would send the other half once the Ticketmaster transfer was completed.
The tickets never came. Instead, Dwyer, a 21-year-old Temple University student, quickly found herself blocked by the Facebook user and unsure about how to get her money back....
Some Pennsylvania lawmakers are hoping that fewer consumers experience the disappointment, and often shame, that comes with getting scammed by resellers of tickets to concerts, sports games, and other events.
State Rep. Robert Matzie (D., Beaver) introduced a bill earlier this month that would add speculative ticketing, or selling tickets that are not in your possession, to a list of offenses that can result in penalties under the Commonwealth’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office is responsible for enforcing that law. Breaking it can result in fines and other penalties, such as temporary and permanent injunctions.
The tickets never came. Instead, Dwyer, a 21-year-old Temple University student, quickly found herself blocked by the Facebook user and unsure about how to get her money back....
Some Pennsylvania lawmakers are hoping that fewer consumers experience the disappointment, and often shame, that comes with getting scammed by resellers of tickets to concerts, sports games, and other events.
State Rep. Robert Matzie (D., Beaver) introduced a bill earlier this month that would add speculative ticketing, or selling tickets that are not in your possession, to a list of offenses that can result in penalties under the Commonwealth’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office is responsible for enforcing that law. Breaking it can result in fines and other penalties, such as temporary and permanent injunctions.
- more at link -
Ticket-buying tips from the Philly Inquirer:
I would add to these: NEVER buy anything on Facebook.
But that's just me.
September 23, 2023
Opening Day of Oktoberfest in Munich!
Live webcam - best time to view this is between 11 a.m. and about 1 p.m. (EST)
After that it gets kind of dark:
https://www.wiesn.tv/armbrustschuetzenfeld-webcam/
The live webcams are fun to see, and imagine yourself there in Munich. I was there 30 years ago and hope to go back some day.
September 22, 2023
Link: https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/john-fetterman-is-still-a-fucking
Friday bonus screenshot of Fetterman Xweets and replies:
- more at link -
Great rant! John Fetterman IS a boss!
Tiedrich rant: John Fetterman is still a fucking boss
Link: https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/john-fetterman-is-still-a-fucking
last February, I wrote a thing called John Fetterman is a fucking boss, about Fetterman’s public struggle with depression following his stroke....
seven months have passed, and John seems to have set his troubles behind him — and just this past week, Fetterman has shown us all why he’s still a fucking boss....
recently, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer relaxed the Senate dress code so that John could wear his famous hoodie in the well of the Senate. no big deal, right?
wrong. the entire wingnut outrage-industrial complex blew a fucking gasket. you would have thought it was the burning of Atlanta and the sacking of Rome all rolled into one — and the loudest howls came from the Republican screech-monkeys in the House of Representatives.
seven months have passed, and John seems to have set his troubles behind him — and just this past week, Fetterman has shown us all why he’s still a fucking boss....
recently, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer relaxed the Senate dress code so that John could wear his famous hoodie in the well of the Senate. no big deal, right?
wrong. the entire wingnut outrage-industrial complex blew a fucking gasket. you would have thought it was the burning of Atlanta and the sacking of Rome all rolled into one — and the loudest howls came from the Republican screech-monkeys in the House of Representatives.
Friday bonus screenshot of Fetterman Xweets and replies:
- more at link -
Great rant! John Fetterman IS a boss!
September 22, 2023
Truthout link: https://truthout.org/articles/gm-ford-paid-average-combined-tax-rate-of-just-1-percent-on-42b-in-profits/
- more at link -
Solidarity with the UAW strike!
GM, Ford Paid Average Combined Tax Rate of Just 1 Percent on $42B in Profits
Truthout link: https://truthout.org/articles/gm-ford-paid-average-combined-tax-rate-of-just-1-percent-on-42b-in-profits/
Despite reaping tens of billions of dollars in profits between them over the past five years, General Motors and Ford paid an average combined tax rate of just 1% on total pre-tax income, an analysis published Tuesday by economic justice advocates revealed — as the auto giants claimed they cannot afford striking workers’ demands for better pay.
The Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) analysis — which posits that “the tax system is rigged to benefit multinational corporations over the workers who keep them running” — notes that over the past five years, GM and Ford made a total of $34 billion and $8 billion respectively, but paid an effective federal tax rate of only 1.3% for GM and -0.2% for Ford.
“While some of those tax savings have found their way into rapidly rising compensation packages for the firms’ top executives and board members, wages of rank-and-file workers have lagged,” the report states. “Average executive pay at GM and Ford grew by 32% over the past five years, while median autoworker pay grew by just 8.8% over the same period, widening the executive-to-worker pay gap to 183-to-1.”
“Over that same period, GM and Ford paid out a combined total of $14 billion in dividends (34 times more than they paid in taxes), spent $3.6 billion on stock buybacks (nine times more than they paid in taxes), and lavished $614 million on top company executives (50% more than they paid in taxes),” the publication continues.
The Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) analysis — which posits that “the tax system is rigged to benefit multinational corporations over the workers who keep them running” — notes that over the past five years, GM and Ford made a total of $34 billion and $8 billion respectively, but paid an effective federal tax rate of only 1.3% for GM and -0.2% for Ford.
“While some of those tax savings have found their way into rapidly rising compensation packages for the firms’ top executives and board members, wages of rank-and-file workers have lagged,” the report states. “Average executive pay at GM and Ford grew by 32% over the past five years, while median autoworker pay grew by just 8.8% over the same period, widening the executive-to-worker pay gap to 183-to-1.”
“Over that same period, GM and Ford paid out a combined total of $14 billion in dividends (34 times more than they paid in taxes), spent $3.6 billion on stock buybacks (nine times more than they paid in taxes), and lavished $614 million on top company executives (50% more than they paid in taxes),” the publication continues.
- more at link -
Solidarity with the UAW strike!
September 21, 2023
Link: https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/steaming-pantload-jim-jordan-wastes
- more at link, including video of Eric Swalwell -
There's just too much on today's rant for me to include all the highlights.
You have to read it for yourself. It's a classic!
Well done, Jeff Tiedrich....
Tiedrich rant: steaming pantload Jim Jordan wastes everyone's time on another idiotic hearing
Link: https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/steaming-pantload-jim-jordan-wastes
- more at link, including video of Eric Swalwell -
There's just too much on today's rant for me to include all the highlights.
You have to read it for yourself. It's a classic!
Well done, Jeff Tiedrich....
Profile Information
Name: Kathy HinsmanGender: Female
Hometown: Pittsburgh PA
Home country: USA
Current location: Pittsburgh
Member since: Sat Feb 18, 2017, 02:16 PM
Number of posts: 32,639
