The Sheer Incompetence of Progressives

[BluesLegend]

Look, Democrats made a choice and they chose the Delta smelt and creepy crawly critters over keeping humans safe from fire.

 

[TruthNotBS]

Neat. The problem is that the woke folks took over the Democratic Party. People with common sense are fleeing the party because if they continue down the same path they will destroy the country. It is as simple as that.

Again, you didn't listen or understand what I wrote. The Dems aren't necessarily the left or progressive. liberals can be just as committed as the right-wing conservative Republicans to serving vested interests to the detriment of the working class. Progressive leftists are a small minority in the Democratic Party today, most of us our independents and members of small, grassroots, socialist parties. Leaving the Democratic Party and Joining the Republicans isn't the solution to the nation's problems. You're not prioritizing the interests and needs of the working-class (94% of the population) when you become a Republican, you're still part of the problem.

 

[HeyNorm]

Santa Ana winds aren't rare, with fire, they are.

NOAA releases winter weather outlook: What Southern ...​

View attachment 1065071
KTLA
https://ktla.com › news › california › noaa-releases-wint...
Oct 17, 2024 — The outlook for inland areas of Southern California shows a slightly elevated probability of below-normal precipitation. The rest of the Golden ..

Drought, Santa Ana winds may spell fire trouble for ...​

View attachment 1065072
The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com › weather › 2025/01/05
Jan 5, 2025 — This part of the state hasn't received significant rain for nearly nine months and could see the strongest Santa Ana winds of the season ...

2025 Fire Season Incident Archive | CAL FIRE​

View attachment 1065074
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (.gov)
https://www.fire.ca.gov › incidents › 2025
2025 Incident Archive · 19,300. Total Emergency Responses · 105. Wildfires · 40,306. Acres Burned · 13. Fatalities: Preliminary pending coroner confirmation · 12,300 ...

The winds don’t wait around for fire to erupt

 

[DBA]

most of us our independents and members of small, grassroots, socialist parties

That in of itself is a huge issue. Our country won't succeed with Socialist policies. Of the 2 viable parties, the Republican Party by far best represents what made the US the most successfully country in the world.

 

[Orangecat]

I didn't claim to have a big brain.

Don't worry, no one else who reads your butthrt drivel thinks that either.

 

[TruthNotBS]

That in of itself is a huge issue. Our country won't succeed with Socialist policies. Of the 2 viable parties, the Republican Party by far best represents what made the US the most successfully country in the world.

Capitalism can only succeed when production needs enough human labor, once it doesn't you have to by necessity adopt a non-profit, marketless system of production. The transition from capitalism to socialism has been occurring for over 100 years, and it takes the form of mixed economies, that provide workers with robust, publically funded, and managed social safety nets. The countries with the highest standard of living in the world and the happiest citizens live in mixed economies, not ones that are completely privatized and owned by wealthy profit-pursuing greedy capitalist sociopaths.

Happiness of the younger, the older, and those in between

The World Happiness Report is published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an independent editorial board.

worldhappiness.report

Top 20 Happiest Countries In The World In 2025 - Forbes India

Let's explore the World Happiness Report 2025 and the secrets behind the happiest countries in the world, and also take a look at those at the bottom

www.forbesindia.com

20 happiest countries in the world in 2024​

Let's take a look at the top 20 happiest countries in the world in 2024, according to the World Happiness Report.

Rank	Country	Happiness Score	Continent
1	Finland	7.741	Europe
2	Denmark	7.583	Europe
3	Iceland	7.525	Europe
4	Sweden	7.344	Europe
5	Israel	7.341	Asia
6	Netherlands	7.319	Europe
7	Norway	7.302	Europe
8	Luxembourg	7.122	Europe
9	Switzerland	7.060	Europe
10	Australia	7.057	Australia
11	New Zealand	7.029	Australia
12	Costa Rica	6.955	North America
13	Kuwait	6.951	Asia
14	Austria	6.905	Europe
15	Canada	6.900	North America
16	Belgium	6.894	Europe
17	Ireland	6.838	Europe
18	Czechia	6.822	Europe
17	Lithuania	6.818	Europe
18	United Kingdom	6.749	Europe

The United States didn't even make the list.

Top 10 peaceful countries in the world in 2024​

Let’s explore the highest-ranked peaceful countries with data from Vision of Humanity.

Rank	Country	Score (1-5)	Region
#1	Iceland	1.112	Europe
#2	Ireland	1.303	Europe
#3	Austria	1.313	Europe
#4	New Zealand	1.323	Asia-Pacific
#5	Singapore	1.339	Asia-Pacific
#6	Switzerland	1.35	Europe
#7	Portugal	1.372	Europe
#8	Denmark	1.382	Europe
#9	Slovenia	1.395	Europe
#10	Malaysia	1.427	Asia-Pacific

Which are the Next 10 Peaceful Countries in the World (Ranked 11-20)?​

Rank	Country	Score
11	Canada	1.449
12	Czechia	1.459
13	Finland	1.474
14	Hungary	1.502
15	Croatia	1.504
16	Belgium	1.510
17	Japan	1.525
18	Netherlands	1.527
19	Australia	1.536
20	Germany	1.542

As far as being a peaceful country, where its citizens are less likely to be victims of violence, the US again, doesn't even make the list.

Your claim that the United States is today "successful" is ridiculous.

​

We rank 49th in life expectancy.

• Infant mortality: The U.S. ranks poorly in infant mortality, which is a major factor in life expectancy
• Income: The U.S. life expectancy correlates with income and unfortunately approximately 60% of America's workforce is living paycheck to paycheck and are unable to cover the cost of their healthcare and many other vital goods and services (food, housing..the cost of living is through the roof).
• Health indicators: The U.S. lags behind in indicators like obesity, smoking, incarceration, childhood poverty, adolescent pregnancy, and infant and maternal mortality.

Our healthcare system is broken and unaffordable. Our higher education, including technical schools, is unaffordable. American workers have fewer rights and benefits than workers in other industrialized, modern countries. Today only 11% of the American workforce is unionized, vs 34% in the 1950s and 60s.

We're not a success anymore thanks to Republican "trickle down" supply-side, greedy-asshole economics, which gutted our manufacturing base in the 1980s, stripped workers of their rights and protections, reducing our once strong, productive, manufacturing-based economy into a Wall Street casino based on finance and speculative trading. They turned us into dependents of foreign, cheap labor thanks to corporate greed and crony capitalism.

Since the 1980s, our country has suffered HUGE debts and a mass transfer of wealth from the working class to the wealthy capitalist class, to the tune of trillions of dollars. Today just three families own half of the nation's wealth. That's not "success" by any stretch of the imagination. That's a complete and utter failure.

This nation only became economically great when leftists pushed for all of this:

1. Worker Protections and Labor Reforms​

1. Eight-Hour Day and 40-Hour Work Week
   
   • The push for shorter working hours dates back to the late 19th-century labor movement, which was strongly supported by socialist, progressive, and labor organizers.
   • The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, officially established the 40-hour workweek, overtime pay, and minimum wage.
2. Overtime Pay
   
   • Also established by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, requiring employers to pay workers time-and-a-half for hours worked over 40 per week.
3. Minimum Wage
   
   • First introduced at the federal level by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Progressive activists and labor leaders fought for a guaranteed wage floor to protect low-wage workers from exploitation.
4. Child Labor Laws
   
   • Child labor restrictions were championed by labor unions, progressives, and social reformers, culminating in federal regulations within the FLSA that set minimum age requirements and hour limits for working minors.
5. Right to Unionize & Collective Bargaining
   
   • The National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) of 1935 guaranteed workers the right to form unions and engage in collective bargaining without employer interference. Unions—and the broader left—were crucial in advocating for these rights.
6. Unemployment Insurance
   
   • Part of the Social Security Act of 1935, unemployment benefits were a key component of FDR’s New Deal, which progressives and organized labor strongly supported.
7. Workers’ Compensation
   
   • Many states began instituting workers’ compensation laws in the early 1900s, largely due to pressure from progressive reformers and labor organizations that sought protection for employees who were injured on the job.
8. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
   
   • Established in 1971 under President Richard Nixon (though with strong backing from labor advocates and progressive lawmakers), OSHA enforces safety standards and regulations to prevent workplace injuries and deaths.

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2. Social Safety Net and Welfare Programs​

1. Social Security (1935)
   
   • A cornerstone of the New Deal, Social Security provides retirement benefits and disability insurance. It was heavily promoted by FDR and progressive allies in Congress in response to the Great Depression.
2. Medicare and Medicaid (1965)
   
   • Passed as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society,” Medicare provides health insurance to Americans 65 and older, while Medicaid offers coverage to low-income individuals. Progressive legislators, social justice activists, and labor unions were pivotal advocates.
3. Food Stamps / SNAP
   
   • Initiated as a pilot under President Kennedy and expanded under President Johnson, the Food Stamp Program (now SNAP) was a key part of the War on Poverty—a set of programs championed by progressives to fight hunger and poverty.
4. Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) / Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)
   
   • Originally part of the Social Security Act, expanded over time by progressive policymakers and social welfare advocates to provide financial support to low-income families with children.

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3. Voting Rights and Political Participation​

1. Women’s Suffrage (19th Amendment, 1920)
   
   • Suffragists and progressive activists fought for decades to secure voting rights for women. Although support was widespread, left-leaning reformers and activists were generally among the strongest advocates.
2. Universal White Male Suffrage in the 19th Century
   
   • While not typically labeled “left vs. right” in the modern sense, the broader democratic movement (championed by Jacksonian Democrats and various populist groups) did away with property requirements, expanding voting rights to all white men. Early labor and populist movements pushed for more inclusive suffrage.
3. Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965)
   
   • Enacted under President Lyndon B. Johnson, these landmark laws outlawed segregation and discriminatory voting practices. Civil rights groups, progressive activists, and the liberal wing of the Democratic Party were instrumental in pushing for these reforms.
4. Eliminating Poll Taxes (24th Amendment, 1964)
   
   • Poll taxes were used to disenfranchise poor voters (disproportionately people of color). The 24th Amendment abolished poll taxes in federal elections, a victory for civil rights organizations and progressive lawmakers.

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4. Civil Rights and Anti-Discrimination Efforts​

1. Ending Segregation and Jim Crow
   
   • Activists from the NAACP, labor unions (like the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters), socialist organizations, and progressive religious groups were core components of the civil rights movement, which brought about the dismantling of Jim Crow laws in the South.
2. Fair Housing Act (1968)
   
   • Outlawed discriminatory housing practices. Advocates included civil rights groups and progressive politicians who fought for open and equal housing opportunities.
3. Affirmative Action
   
   • Initiated under President John F. Kennedy and expanded under President Lyndon B. Johnson, Affirmative Action programs were intended to address historical discrimination, strongly championed by many liberals and civil rights activists.
4. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990)
   
   • While signed into law by President George H. W. Bush, it was heavily supported by progressive activists and disability rights advocates, ensuring people with disabilities have protections in employment, transportation, and public accommodations.

---

5. Women’s Rights Beyond Suffrage​

1. Equal Pay Act (1963)
   
   • Requires employers to pay men and women equally for equal work. This was championed by labor unions, feminists, and progressive members of Congress.
2. Title IX (1972)
   
   • Part of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits gender discrimination in education, including athletics. This was a key victory for feminists and left-leaning lawmakers committed to gender equality.
3. Roe v. Wade (1973)
   
   • Though a Supreme Court decision (later affected by Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022), reproductive rights have historically been supported by progressive and left-wing groups, who played a major role in advocating for women’s autonomy and healthcare rights.

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6. Broader Social and Economic Reforms​

1. The New Deal Programs
   
   • In addition to Social Security, the New Deal encompassed agencies and policies like the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and the Public Works Administration (PWA), which provided millions of jobs. These programs were a hallmark of progressive policy during the Great Depression.
2. The Great Society Programs
   
   • Under Lyndon B. Johnson, these included Medicare, Medicaid, the War on Poverty initiatives, Head Start (early childhood education), and more. All were broadly backed by liberal and progressive lawmakers.
3. Environmental Protections
   
   • While protecting the environment has broad political support, progressive and left-leaning advocates have been strong in pushing laws like the Clean Air Act (1970) and the Clean Water Act (1972), helping establish the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Nixon.
4. Expansion of Civil Liberties
   
   • Left-wing groups and civil liberties organizations (e.g., the ACLU) have advocated for free speech, freedom of assembly, and protections from government overreach, playing a major part in many landmark court decisions and legislative changes.

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Key Takeaways​

• Labor Rights (e.g., shorter workweeks, overtime pay, minimum wage, right to unionize) were heavily promoted by organized labor and left-wing activists.
• Social Safety Net expansions (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance) came largely through progressive legislative efforts, especially during the New Deal and Great Society.
• Civil Rights (ending legal segregation, enforcing voting rights, and dismantling discriminatory policies) saw strong leadership and activism from progressive coalitions, including many on the left.
• Women’s Rights (suffrage, equal pay, anti-discrimination in education) were fought for by feminist and progressive movements, often in alliance with broader leftist organizations.

Until then, this country was dependent upon free slave labor and the highly exploited poor working class. Your definition of national "success" is quite odd, to say the least. And for you brainwashed, right-wing conservative Republican assholes who are now going to tell me to leave my country and go somewhere else, all I have to say to you is, YOU LEAVE. You get the F%^K out of here, how about that? YOU LEAVE, and the leftists will stay right here, and TRULY Make America Great Again. It's genuine leftists who are going to make this country Great Again, not you right-wing, conservative Republican bootlickers, groveling at the feet of your wealthy masters.

Adam Smith the father of industrial age capitalism called capitalist employers (i.e. exploiters) MASTERS:

"What are the common wages of labor, depends everywhere upon the contract usually made between those two parties, whose interests are by no means the same. The workmen desire to get as much, the masters to give as little as possible. The former are disposed to combine (To form labor unions) in order to raise, the latter in order to lower the wages of labor.

It is not, however, difficult to foresee which of the two parties must, upon all ordinary occasions, have the advantage in the dispute, and force the other into a compliance with their terms. The masters, being fewer in number, can combine (In the form of chambers of commerce, industry-specific associations, and guilds, super-PACs, non-profit front organizations/NGOs, armies of lobbyists bribing politicians in the halls of government, think tanks staffed by Ivy league analysts and scholars who write the papers and legislation that they hand to the lobbyists, to give to their cronies in Congress`) much more easily; and the law, besides, authorises, or at least does not prohibit their combinations, while it prohibits those of the workmen." (Wealth Of Nations - Book I, Chapter VIII)

Emphasis Mine

You love your masters, don't you? You're good little slaves. They own you....

​

 

[DBA]

Reality is America has been surpassed by almost every other 1st world country.

You don't travel outside the US much do you? Either that or you live in a blue inner city dump. This is absurd on many levels.

 

[TruthNotBS]

You don't travel outside the US much do you? Either that or you live in a blue inner city dump. This is absurd on many levels.

More ridiculous bullshit from your keyboard. I've traveled the world and I've lived in Europe, the Middle East, South East Asia, and Latin America. In 20 years I traveled to 24 countries, how many countries have you visited and lived in? Like you I'm a 1st generation American and son of immigrants. I have money, but unlike you, I realize that I don't live in a vacuum. If the working class are struggling, if most people in society are suffering, then my wealth is in serious danger. I have to have empathy for others, to not just secure my own wealth but to be fully human. A good person.

You're a piece of shit.

 

[john doe 101]

You don't travel outside the US much do you? Either that or you live in a blue inner city dump. This is absurd on many levels.

You've ruined America

 

[TruthNotBS]

You've ruined America

Right-wing, mammon-worshiping, greedy, conservative Republicans, who hate the working class, definitely ruined our once productive, self-sufficient country, with its manufacturing-based economy. An economy that produced goods and services, paying decent wages with a cost of living people could afford. Definitely, right-wing, Republican economic policy, in its commitment to the rich, and hatred of the working class, ruined America.

 

[DonGlock26]

Against all odds, this doggo survived Newsom's CA wildfire disaster.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

Against all odds, this doggo survived Newsom's CA wildfire disaster.

.

Happy for the dog.


.

 

[Rocko]

Progressives are killing the democrat party

 

[TruthNotBS]

Progressives are killing the democrat party

Establishment Dems who prioritize the wealthy, and corporate interests at the expense of the public good, are the ones killing the democratic party, not genuine progressives like Bernie Sanders.

 

[Rocko]

Establishment Dems who prioritize the wealthy, and corporate interests at the expense of the public good, are the ones killing the democratic party, not genuine progressives like Bernie Sanders.

I disagree. I think the Bernie Sanders wing of the party are killing the party.

 

[TruthNotBS]

I disagree. I think the Bernie Sanders wing of the party are killing the party.

That's ridiculous. The Democratic Party establishment was afraid of Bernie, hence made sure he lost to Biden in the primaries. Bernie has a vast movement of working-class supporters, and many of them are of the younger generation, hence his progressive, leftist politics is the future.

Both right-wing conservative politics and two-faced Democrat establishment politics will always lose to genuine progressive, leftist political movements. Bernie, AOC and other Dems, that are progressives, are going to dominate the party even more now thanks to Trump. Right-wing, conservative Republicans who serve the rich at the expense of the working class, are toast in 2028.

 

[elektra]

are CA demofks so fking stupid they don't know that brush is fuel?

Money, now California needs billions. It is all about billions

 

[elektra]

WTF?
You're retarded.
Most all reservoirs are used for drinking water........DUMBASS.

They will do nothing in hurricane force wind.

Strongest Santa Ana winds since start of Los Angeles ...​

View attachment 1065035
FOX Weather
https://www.foxweather.com › weather-news › los-ange...
3 hours ago — The threat of renewed fire danger looms over Southern California as strong Santa Ana winds are forecast to intensify Monday night, ...

While the winds will not stay consistently strong through Wednesday, a reoccurring cycle of northeasterly winds will flare up around 15-30 mph with gusts to 50 mph. A few gusts up to 70 mph will be possible in the San Gabriel, Santa Susana and western Santa Monica Mountains, the FOX Forecast Center said.

Show us that this one was used for drinking water

 

[jc456]

Money, now California needs billions. It is all about billions

Fk, never occurred to me that play. With demofks, there’s always a gig. Outstanding post my friend!!!

 

[Rocko]

That's ridiculous. The Democratic Party establishment was afraid of Bernie, hence made sure he lost to Biden in the primaries. Bernie has a vast movement of working-class supporters, and many of them are of the younger generation, hence his progressive, leftist politics is the future.

Both right-wing conservative politics and two-faced Democrat establishment politics will always lose to genuine progressive, leftist political movements. Bernie, AOC and other Dems, that are progressives, are going to dominate the party even more now thanks to Trump. Right-wing, conservative Republicans who serve the rich at the expense of the working class, are toast in 2028.

The ultra progressive wing of the party is why you’ve lost the election(s). Of course the establishment democrats didn’t want Sanders to be the nominee. He had no path to victory. The progressive agenda isn’t what Americans want. The likes of democrats like AOC and Bernie Sanders continue to cost the democrat party dearly.