FrancieFootball

Thanks for proving my point. We need a strong two-party system, where Democrats and Republicans work out deals for the betterment of Americans. MAGAs just want a one-party system and to shove their agenda down everyone's throats and expect Democrats to just bend over and accept blame for the issue. I want a strong Republican party. We'll never get anywhere with a mindset such as yours. Republicans will find out in 2026.

Will they be handing out food to poor people?

Trump said that when there is a shutdown, the president takes the blame. He didn't specify Obama. Democrats and Republicans share the blame for the shutdown. Do you really believe it's 100 percent the Democrats' fault? A political paradigm that believes in one-party rule with an authoritarian at the helm and laying blame at the feet of everyone but themselves is called a dictatorship. Trump could use discretionary funds to feed the poor, and a federal judge has ordered him to do it. Instead, he and MAGAs are trying to circumnavigate what little we have left in the form of checks and balances and screw the poor and benefit the rich, which is what happened in Hungary. Oligarchy. Authoritarian. Dictatorship. Whatever you want to call it, this is what MAGA wants, so quit crying about one aspect of the political system that has checks and balances and that Democrats are standing up for the less fortunate instead of bending the knee to a wanna-be king and his cultist followers.

This is real simple, honey. Trump said the president gets the blame for a shutdown. MAGAs believe everything Trump says. Therefore, MAGAs must blame Trump for the shutdown. I think it's great that there are Republicans refusing his demand to eliminate the Senate filibuster. At least we still have a shred of checks and balances that forces the two parties to negotiate and compromise, which is what America is all about!

Are you saying Trump was wrong and lying?

I posted a video of Trump in 2011 saying the president gets the blame for a shutdown. So the shutdown is Trump's fault. Pretty crystal clear here.

I totally agree on this.

We shall see, but I question the point of kicking the can down the road and expecting different results, which would be insanity's definition. We need to take care of the less fortunate, and that's a hill upon which I am most willing to die.

What's a "knat?"

Transgender awareness and my fantasy-football expertise.

You tell me. I'm trying to educate myself on all the inside baseball on this thing. I got this:

Everyone blaming Democrats here, even though Trump blames presidents for shutdowns (except himself, of course), is free to provide evidence that what Republicans want will be a brutal blow to our health-care industry.

The proposed Republican spending bill has unreasonable health-care cuts that will devastate millions of people and result in higher health-care costs for all of us due to medical treatment for those who will not be able to pay their bill. Everyone loses. Every this administration does negatively impacts millions of low-income Americans, most of them who work hard but can't get ahead swirl the drain in the vicious poverty cycle.

Game. Set. Match.

That's a whole lot of Bible you're ignoring while you look down upon and despise those less fortunate than you.

So we cut off the benefits to the many because of the actions of a few. Got it.

The Scriptures listed below are great starting places for understanding how deeply God cares about his people helping those in poverty. Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done. — Proverbs 19:17, NIV What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. — James 2:14-17, NIV If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? — 1 John 3:17, NIV The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor. — Proverbs 22:9, NIV “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” — Isaiah 58:9b-10, NIV “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’  He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” — Matthew 25:44-45, NIV Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. — James 1:27, NIV Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses. — Proverbs 28:27, NIV Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. — Proverbs 14:31, NIV Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered. — Proverbs 21:13, NIV The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern. — Proverbs 29:7, NIV Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. — Proverbs 31:9, NIV Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor. — Proverbs 14:21, ESV In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. — Acts 9:36, NIV All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along. — Galatians 2:10, NIV “If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you.” — Leviticus 25:35, NIV Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. — 1 Timothy 6:17-19, NIV If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. — Deuteronomy 15:7, NIV “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.” — Matthew 25:35, NIV “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.” — Leviticus 19:9-10, NIV Blessed are those who have regard for the weak; the LORD delivers them in times of trouble. — Psalm 41:1, NIV Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. — Isaiah 1:17, ESV And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: This is what the Lord Almighty said: “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.” — Zechariah 7:8-10

What we're going to see is an increase in crime as hungry people get desperate.

Human character is defined by helping others without getting anything in return other than the feeling of fulfillment. We all should care about those less fortunate than ourselves, and this is just what Jesus wants and the emodiment of Christianity and pretty much every form of spirituality that believes in a higher power. When it comes to things that don't affect them, MAGAs only care about what Trump tells them to care about, like needlessly sending troops into cities thousands of miles away and made-up stories about Venezuelan gangs taking over entire communities and Haitians eating pets.

What problem have I created? I work. I spend time with my family. We volunteer to help those less fortunate than ourselves. I take care of my mind and body. Not much there to create a problem.

Joblessness - Up. Inflation - Up. Consumer confidence - Down. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-consumer-confidence-slips-october-worries-over-jobs-persist-2025-10-28/

Why are the times uneasy? I thought Trump was making everything great again.

I used to be Frank.

It is people like you who confirm all the reasons why I am liberal af.