160 Comments
Mar 12, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV

I was cringing throughout this entire post. These really are the fking mole people. And thanks to their efforts since 1980, America is now considered to be a flawed democracy.

Before St. Ronnie Raygun hit the scene we were the envy of the world; now it's just sad and pathetic. I went on a brunch cruise with Ron Reagan, Jr. many years ago and the first question asked was, "Why did your dad go from being a Democrat to a Republican?" The answer was, "Money." He said that Raygun had gotten the first million-dollar contract in Hollywood and that changed his worldview.

This was the beginning of the end of the middle-class in America and it's been going downhill ever since thanks to this evil, criminal enterprise known as the Republican party. I loathe what they have done to this country.

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Mar 12, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV

There really is no bottom to the chasm of evil being dug by the Fascist wing of the “formerly Republican” party. Of course these hypocrites wouldn’t allow their precious heirs to toil in a poultry factory at the age of 14! And these are the same folks who are so worried about the survival of fetuses in the first trimester? It’s hard to choose what makes me sickest about their hateful, greedy spew (i.e., the Republican “platform”), but child labor certainly ranks near the top. Let’s fight with words--we should start calling the new Republican message the PLATFORM OF EVIL.

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Mar 12, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV

Our conservative friends view every last vestige of the New Deal as a nefarious conspiracy to torment the wealthy. The idea that things like child labor laws have any legitimate purpose is beyond the capacity of their reptilian brains to process.

Besides, if kids don't want to have to work, they should have chosen to be born to rich parents. It's called personal responsibility, people!

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Mar 12, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV

I tutor a man from Côte d’Ivoire who told me he started working in a sweatshop at age five, making shirts on a sewing machine. When I expressed shock, he shrugged and said, “C’est l’Afrique.” Apparently c’est l’Amerique aussi.

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Mar 12, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV

“Democrats running next year for state and federal offices should yell their heads off about the cruelty of these Republican controlled state legislatures and governors.” Yes, they SHOULD, but they won’t. The Dems seem incapable of raising their voices in outrage over anything, no matter how terrible. But the GOP knows how to make an ear-piercing, attention-getting racket over the most trivial matters!

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Mar 12, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV

This is a collaborative effort between Republicans and their corporate cronies. They don't really want all children to be able to work without papers before they turn 18, they want to be able to exploit immigrant children, especially undocumented immigrant children and use them as de facto slaves. They will pay below minimum wage, there will be no respect for working hours and safety will not be respected. And they will start by putting them to work in slaughterhouses, textile mills and oh, just for good measure, coal mines.

And the first plant manager that plays along with this game should be arrested and charged with trafficking, child abuse and whatever else they can think of.

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founding
Mar 12, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV

The party of family values, which one would think includes everyone's children. I have to constantly remind myself people vote for the likes of these "winning" politicians because they feel exactly the same way, as they seem to be hell bent on dragging us back to the 1800s and its horrors for women and children, two of the representatives of the population that have always been treated less well.

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founding
Mar 12, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV

Sarah Huckster Sanders. What a low life.

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Mar 12, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV

Newt suggested legalizing child labor around 2008. Republicans are always planting evil seeds to see if they take root.

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Mar 12, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV

Its the old Boot Strap bs.

Another myth like trickle down economy.

BUT

I come from that world.

First job at 5 helping dad paint houses for food.

Around the town square paper route at 9.

Free breakfast at the cafe.

Picking lettuce and grapes in the Sonoran desert at 14.

Back to iowa farming for a couple of years. Back to Arizona.

Running the Carrol Arthur Sweet Potato sheds in Glendale Arizona. At 21 start my business.

At 82 i have logged 66 jobs.

Thats all folks.

Lets boot strap them kids,

Particilary the 20 plus Musk kids

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Mar 12, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV

A solid wealthy middle-class is the sign of a healthy society.Children working in slaughterhouses is not.

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"Civilized societies don’t do this kind of stuff.". The United States hasn't been "civilized" in many years.

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Mar 12, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV

Block the essential immigrant labor pool because they will “replace us.” Well, who’s going replace your children or their wellbeing if they are killed or injured on the job?

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Mar 12, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV

We're knocking on the door of a new Dark Ages.

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Mar 12, 2023·edited Mar 12, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV

Just when you think we can't rush headlong back to the early 19th century, we go even faster. Is that when America was great again? The glory days of workhouses, child labor, and indentured servants, if not slaves?

My mind is constantly boggled at the speed at which today's Repubs are seeking to undo every positive social and political gain made since the Civil War (at least).

By the by, those "help wanted" signs are all over Madison, WI, too. And there has been increased agitation by low-wage service sector employees in particular to unionize. Of course, unionization is fought fiercely by almost all owners and managers, even local small businesses who you might expect to be more enlightened. Working people have finally had enough of being treated like expendable cogs and paid non-living wages.

Naturally, the boss caste turns to automation and children.

Oh, and at this same time, they're (you all know who I mean by "they") working overtime to criminalize abortion. Not just ban it, but prosecute women for homicide for it. Anyone want to start a betting pool for when we see the first bill to take away women's right to vote? And then non-property-owning males?

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founding
Mar 13, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV

I was going to say, "there seems to be no bottom" to the mess that has befallen us, but that was said by the first post that caught my eye. So I will just say that some elected officials are beneath contempt and are soiling society at a pretty fast clip. When I read that the walleyed Weight Watcher dropout and dim bulb Sarah Sanders made it open season on under 16-year-old people in her state, I thought: But she has pre-teen children! How could she? Something awful has unleashed cruel governance in this country, and its name is Donald Trump, with an assist from his Russian friends and the loathsome MAGAts who gave us the worst criminal presidency in US history.

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