Recent Comments

1. 9 days ago on Brewster Rockit

   A 2013 study by the Labor Center at UC Berkeley (“Fast Food, Poverty Wages: The Public Cost of Low-Wage Jobs in the Fast-Food Industry") found that taxpayers funded over $6 billion in welfare for full-time employees of fast-food restaurant chains. HR staff at Walmart are trained to assist workers in applying for public assistance. This amounts to a taxpayer subsidy for corporate profits that overwhelmingly benefits the top 1% (the top 1% owns over 50% of all stock; the top 10% owns 90%).

   Compensation for CEOs is now over 350 times that of the median wage at their business—the median wage, not the bottom. That means people at the supervisory or management level, not entry-level or low-skill jobs.

   The economy these days functions as a pump to turn the meager incomes of the 90% into wealth for the top 10% (and especially the top 1%).

   Solutions include high taxes on top tax brackets (it was over 80% during the Eisenhower administration) to discourage top executives from overpaying themselves, and caps on executive compensation—if executive pay is “only” 100 times that of their median employee they’ll still be very wealthy, and their employees will be better off.

2. 16 days ago on Frog Applause

   All good things to start the day with!

3. 2 months ago on The Other Coast

   No! Compost the leaves so they return to the Earth. Burning leaves only contributes to particulate matter in the air and increases C02 levels, contributing to climate change. Just compost them!

4. 5 months ago on Frog Applause

   As long as you don’t pund it you’re fine.

5. 5 months ago on Jen Sorensen

   I live in Texas. We believe in freedom and are pro-life. That’s why we force pregnant people to have babies they don’t want even if it kills them, make sure as many people as possible have access to as many guns as possible, prevent trans people from being who they really are even to the point that they want to kill themselves, deny low-income people access to health insurance, place barriers in the way of renewable energy development, and (because we also believe in local control—it’s article 1 of the state Constitution) prevent cities from enacting measures to address the needs of their local population. Because, in this state, we believe in freedom and are pro-life.

6. 6 months ago on Clay Jones

   Everyone’s talking about it, so it must be true!

7. 6 months ago on The Other Coast

   Having a dog ride in the front seat like that could be deadly for the dog. A sudden stop you send it pummeling into the dashboard, breaking its neck. Or, a front-end collision could suddenly inflate the airbag, to deadly effect. There’s a reason car seats for children aren’t allowed in the front seat. Goes the same for dogs.

8. 6 months ago on Mike Luckovich

   The thing is, all of those boxes are empty.

9. 6 months ago on Ted Rall

   Thanks for responding, Ted.

   “Liberal democracy” describes a system of government (and is something of a paradox—see Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, Verso Press). The antisemitism of the Ukrainian people is about national culture. The two can coexist. I mean, look at Texas, where I live, or any of a number of other states in this country. If “liberal” is about protecting individual rights, and “democracy” is about a system of rule involving voting (which is a very thin idea of democracy, but let’s not go there here), then a true liberal democracy is a rare thing, indeed. If the demos has conservative values, then what democracy produces may not be all that “liberal.”

   Besides, I hear more about stopping Russian aggression than defending liberal democracy. I think a lot of folks recognize that Ukraine is a work in progress, with one of the most corrupt governments in Europe. Zelinskyy has acknowledged this, and there have been a number of high-level officials who have been sacked for corruption, even as the war goes on. Nationalism and antisemitism are rife, but as I said before, this is common to much of eastern Europe. In that way, Ukrainians aren’t that different from Russians. But also look at the government that took power recently in Italy, or the National Front in France, etc., etc., etc.

10. 6 months ago on Brewster Rockit

    Back in 2017 Kellyanne Conway talked about “alternate facts.” AI is a version of that.