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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Fight them, without becoming them!

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Republicans would impeach Biden if he bit into a whole Kit Kat rather than breaking the sections apart.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

T R E 4 5 O N

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

“Look, it’s not against the rules anywhere, but a black woman with power was dating and there has to be something wrong with that.”

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

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You are here: Home / Economics / Fuck The Middle-Class / Listen Closely, You Can Hear My Heart Breaking For You

Listen Closely, You Can Hear My Heart Breaking For You

by John Cole|  June 14, 20158:21 pm| 118 Comments

This post is in: Fuck The Middle-Class, Fuck The Poor, Assholes, Sociopaths, Teabagger Stupidity

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Are you listening closely? Good.

FUCK YOU!

Sociopath:

Despair about the tax-and-budget impasse overwhelming the Capitol exacted a toll on Gov. Sam Brownback.

Brownback apparently choked up in a private meeting with House Republicans who sought an audience with the state’s chief executive to talk about a possible compromise to close a $400 million deficit and protect core government functions.

The governor already slashed spending at select agencies by 4 percent and withdrew funding from the state’s highway system to deal with a shortfall in the current fiscal year. He has pushed for significant increases in consumption taxes on general sales, cigarettes and liquor to address next year’s deficit.

“He got emotional,” said a legislator in attendance who viewed the governor’s disposition as evidence of his passion for Kansans. “He was eager for us to come together as a party.”

“Making more cuts? He said that was really difficult to do before,” said another lawmaker speaking on condition of anonymity.

Every one of these rightwing soulless douchebags lacks even the basic bit of self-awareness. You know who I feel bad for? The citizens of Kansas, who have had to suffer the consequences of your tax cuts for the rich, your invasive and intrusive godbothering social programs, your malicious attacks on aid recipients, your gutting of the school system and relaxation of environmental standards, and so on. Well, I feel bad for some of them, but not the majority, because they elected him twice.

But Senator Brownback, you sir, you can eat a bag of salted dicks and I eagerly await you meeting your maker. Hopefully while wearing two wetsuits and a dildo, because that would just be the perfect end for you.

BTW- the comments section to this story is priceless. My personal favorite:

“As soon as I can draw out $ 20 with my TANF card I will buy him a sympathy card.”

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Reader Interactions

118Comments

  1. 1.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 14, 2015 at 8:25 pm

    But Senator Brownback, you sir, you

    He’s a governor. And an innumerate douchebag, but also a governor.

    OT: I am pleased to report that last night’s altercation resulted in three small scratches on my left hand and somebody else’s blood on my pants, now that I’ve done the full inventory. Krav Maga, bitch.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    June 14, 2015 at 8:26 pm

    Well, I feel bad for some of them, but not the majority, because they elected him twice.

    Hating Democrats isn’t free.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    June 14, 2015 at 8:27 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Awesome.

  4. 4.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    June 14, 2015 at 8:28 pm

    Sociopathy at work. Coming to a state near most of us.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    June 14, 2015 at 8:30 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):

    Coming to a state near most of us nation

    Decision ’16!

  6. 6.

    Villago Delenda Est

    June 14, 2015 at 8:30 pm

    Yo, Sam…

    How about taxing the living shit out of the parasitical filth that are the Koch brothers?

    No, time to further squeeze the people who actually produce the wealth, the middle class, and go easy on the fucking vampires.

  7. 7.

    Pogonip

    June 14, 2015 at 8:32 pm

    38 years ago I had a nasty case of disco rash. It has lain dormant all these years, only to flare up again. Much like Reaganism.

    I am informed that nowadays disco rash is more generally known as fat rash, which I suppose is appropriate since in the intervening decades i stopped disco-ing and started fattening! In any case treatment remains the same, just in case anyone needs to know. Also the nurse tells me that applying a powder called Zeasorb will prevent flare-ups. I cannot find Zeasorb around here, had to order it, will report back once I’ve tried it.

    And before you start dissing disco, I actually got the rash belly dancing with my hip band too tight ( I was new at it and feared that when I got sweaty my skirt would slip off). Disco was entirely innocent. So there.

  8. 8.

    BerkeleyMom

    June 14, 2015 at 8:32 pm

    I’m sure around dinner tables all over Kansas this situation is somehow Obama’s fault. Look north, you jerks. Minnesota somehow has this figured out. Got to go. It’s Warriors time.

  9. 9.

    OzarkHillbilly

    June 14, 2015 at 8:33 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): It already is near to me:-(

  10. 10.

    Pogonip

    June 14, 2015 at 8:34 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Are you MMA-ing? If so, I hope you’re enjoying it and making money at it.

  11. 11.

    Elizabelle

    June 14, 2015 at 8:34 pm

    The (meth) laboratories of dumbocracy.

    Kansas voted this in. They had a chance, and did not vote it out. My sympathy is limited.

  12. 12.

    raven

    June 14, 2015 at 8:38 pm

    This basketball game is one fucking brawl. We get wall to wall women’s soccer, hockey for all it is worth and nothing on the NBA. Wonder why?

  13. 13.

    bcinaz

    June 14, 2015 at 8:38 pm

    What? The state government is drowning in the bathtub too soon?

  14. 14.

    Patricia Kayden

    June 14, 2015 at 8:42 pm

    @BerkeleyMom: Come on now, you know Obama is to blame. We just don’t know how.

  15. 15.

    Shakezula

    June 14, 2015 at 8:44 pm

    Kansas has voter ID laws, so even if you ignore people who are under 18 I have to wonder if the majority of Kansans did vote for this douchebag.

  16. 16.

    Keith G

    June 14, 2015 at 8:44 pm

    I would be blissfully happy if Democratic candidates for the office of President (and other Dem leaders) would schedule regular stops into Kansas and blisteringly ream out Brownback and the GOP as the heartless and intellectually lazy hacks that they are.

    Ya see, as a party we need to make the case and we need to make it over and over again if we want to start a spark and watch the spark grow to a movement. We can’t turn states like Kansas in a year or two, but we can get the process started and we can give support to those on the ground who are willing to fight the good fight.

    The GOP spent years helping their locals build up an arsenal to battle the big bad liberals. The Democrats have an opening, but our current leadership seems to not be focused of even concerned on/with this.

  17. 17.

    RSA

    June 14, 2015 at 8:44 pm

    “He got emotional,” said a legislator in attendance

    Brownback can’t sleep at night… what with the sounds of hungry children crying.

  18. 18.

    Patricia Kayden

    June 14, 2015 at 8:45 pm

    @Elizabelle: Mine too. Perhaps they can give the dreaded Dems a chance next time. Can’t be worse than what they have now.

  19. 19.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 14, 2015 at 8:45 pm

    Brownback has one of those exquisitely punchable faces. Just purely designed as an illustration for that German portmanteau word I can never quite remember.

    Edit: Backpfeifengesicht

  20. 20.

    Aleta

    June 14, 2015 at 8:45 pm

    The testing to become a licensed politician should include a sociopath section to disqualify them.

  21. 21.

    geg6

    June 14, 2015 at 8:46 pm

    Having no electricity sucks. Just sayin’. Fuck these storms.

  22. 22.

    Suzanne

    June 14, 2015 at 8:46 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: You are the shit. Go you.

    @raven: This is definitely a rough game. Go Warriors!

    Holy shit, what a play.

  23. 23.

    Baud

    June 14, 2015 at 8:46 pm

    @Keith G:

    Sounds like something Bernie would be good at.

  24. 24.

    KG

    June 14, 2015 at 8:46 pm

    @raven: because God (and John Cole) Hates Cleveland?

  25. 25.

    srv

    June 14, 2015 at 8:47 pm

    Kansas deserves everything it is getting, good and hard.

  26. 26.

    Linnaeus

    June 14, 2015 at 8:48 pm

    @srv:

    No, it doesn’t.

  27. 27.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 14, 2015 at 8:48 pm

    @KG: It is known.

  28. 28.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 14, 2015 at 8:50 pm

    @Pogonip: I don’t do anything recreationally. Well maybe a little bit. But after the first time I got randomly jumped (wtf San Francisco) I started training.

  29. 29.

    Suzanne

    June 14, 2015 at 8:50 pm

    I really wish, at times, that Hell does indeed exist, because I have enough of a lizard brain that I want to see Sam Brownback go there. Of course, this admission means that I would go there, too. But karma just doesn’t always work fast enough for my liking.

  30. 30.

    Keith G

    June 14, 2015 at 8:54 pm

    @Baud: I bet so and we need others as well.

  31. 31.

    Pogonip

    June 14, 2015 at 8:55 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: I’ll be darned. I always thought SF was one of those peaceful blue areas (never been there). Well, watch all 8 directions when you’re out and about and I hope you can move someplace safer soon.

  32. 32.

    Steeplejack

    June 14, 2015 at 8:55 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    How about taxing the living shit out of the parasitical filth that are the Koch brothers?

    Or just reinstate the not-too-onerous taxes on businesses and the rich that he cut to get the state to this crisis in the first place?

  33. 33.

    NCSteve

    June 14, 2015 at 8:58 pm

    Scoff not, for here in Kansas, you see the third step in the Koch Brothers plan to turn America into a patchwork of neofeudal warlords, ungoverned and ungovernable by any higher authority, blissfully free to give the serfs what they said they wanted good and hard.

    Step 1. Slash taxes on rich people and corporations with facially absurd promises that doing so will unleash a wave of prosperity that will more make up of the lost revenue.

    Step 2. Use inevitable revenue crisis to gut the hated boondoggle of public education, enforcement of environmental, wage and hour and workplace safety regulations and government services for anyone but rich people like a perch and enact savage overtly punitive policies on the poor in the name of “austerity.”

    Step 3. When savage cuts to government spending have intended effect of worsening the economy still further, thereby deepening the revenue crisis, replace the progressive taxation eliminated in step 1 with regressive consumption taxes.

    North Carolina and Wisconsin are lagging behind, but well on their way. But hey, at least step 2 isn’t an ellipsis . . .

  34. 34.

    Elizabelle

    June 14, 2015 at 8:58 pm

    Do you think Brownback and Jindal ever get on the phone and commiserate? That would be a play.

  35. 35.

    raven

    June 14, 2015 at 8:58 pm

    @Pogonip: Shit, San Francisco is one tough city. Maybe not as much as it used to be but still.

  36. 36.

    The Thin Black Duke

    June 14, 2015 at 8:59 pm

    But seriously, what the hell is Kansas gonna do? Incredibly enough, as bad as things are now, things are gonna get worse.

  37. 37.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 14, 2015 at 9:01 pm

    @Pogonip: We get a lot of random drunks, even in the good neighborhoods. It’s annoying to be on tactical high alert when you’re walking alone at night but hey, that’s how a lot of women feel all the time, so I guess as a 6’4″ white man I don’t have much to complain about.

    Plus it’s a good skillset to have wherever you are. Do you practice anything?

  38. 38.

    SFAW

    June 14, 2015 at 9:01 pm

    @RSA:

    Brownback can’t sleep at night… what with the sounds of hungry children crying.

    You have it backwards. Those sounds are sweet, sweet lullabies to his real-‘Murican ears.

    Unless you were speaking metaphorically, and the “hungry children” are the Kochs crying for even more crapping on the 99 percent.

  39. 39.

    Baud

    June 14, 2015 at 9:04 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    I was just trying to find recent stories about Jindal. Eerily similar, except Jindal is running for president for some reason.

  40. 40.

    fuckwit

    June 14, 2015 at 9:11 pm

    I do not know when “Kill The Poor” became the new national anthem.

  41. 41.

    yodecat

    June 14, 2015 at 9:11 pm

    Yeah, John it’s a travesty.

    But, my dear fellow, remember that the citizens of that great stare voted the bastard in. ‘Cause whatever. I feel little sympathy for the willfully ignorant. One of the low points of my life: I fired a ‘wilfully ignorant’ friend from a job I was running. Felt bad, but the project was better for it.I think that I’ve a message for ’em.

    jw

  42. 42.

    Howard Beale IV

    June 14, 2015 at 9:12 pm

    And I love how he was playing chicken with the Kansas judiciary, too

    The measure, at the end of a lengthy bill that allocated money for the judiciary this year, stipulates that if a state court strikes down a 2014 law that removed some powers from the State Supreme Court, the judiciary will lose its funding.

    The 2014 law took the authority to appoint district court judges from the Supreme Court and gave it to the district courts themselves. It also deprived the state’s highest court of the right to set district court budgets. Critics said the law was an attempt by Mr. Brownback, a Republican, to stack the district courts with judges who may be more favorable to his policies.

  43. 43.

    Villago Delenda Est

    June 14, 2015 at 9:12 pm

    @Elizabelle: Yes, what the FUCK is the matter with Kansas, with Wisconsin, with Florida, with Maine, who all had a chance to send these vile sociopaths packing but…instead…let them all retain office to further inflict damage on their states?

  44. 44.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 14, 2015 at 9:13 pm

    Oh COME ON that was a fucking tackle on Iguodala

  45. 45.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    June 14, 2015 at 9:13 pm

    I finally broke down and created a Facebook account today, largely in the hope that it would give my nephew and nieces in Florida another avenue to contact me. We’ll see how that goes. Since we’re contemplating legal action, I don’t want to go into any more specifics, but suffice to say that things are fucked up and bullshit and their mother keeps trying to figure out how to abandon them without getting caught.

  46. 46.

    biscuits

    June 14, 2015 at 9:14 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:
    Made my daughter’s take Krav Maga. Money well spent. ;)

  47. 47.

    raven

    June 14, 2015 at 9:15 pm

    Delly has come down to earth.

  48. 48.

    fuckwit

    June 14, 2015 at 9:16 pm

    @Aleta: They’re just employees of the Koch Brothers or whomever corporations and billionaires own them. If they weren’t sociopaths, they would not be employed at all. The problem is capitalism. You have an economic system that is inherently sociopathic. We all must participate in it to survive. Every single one of us has a little bit of sociopath in us, otherwise we too would be unemployed. Politicians are closer to the actual capitalist machinery so they can’t be as much in denial as the rest of us are.

    It’s really a continuum. If we work very hard at it and/or are very patient, the society can be nudged ever so slightly in the direction of justice. But the forces of commerce will always be there to slam it back again into sociopathy.

  49. 49.

    Kropadope

    June 14, 2015 at 9:17 pm

    He has pushed for significant increases in consumption taxes on general sales, cigarettes and liquor to address next year’s deficit.

    So, to finance tax cuts for his very wealthiest residents, he is now raising taxes that fall most heavily on the working folk. Makes sense, given that he has already done all he can to fleece the poor.

  50. 50.

    yodecat

    June 14, 2015 at 9:18 pm

    @srv: Actually they don’t deserve ‘good and hard’. They deserve good government, as all citizens of the US do. It is tiring and aggravating when voters vote against ‘common sense’ and against their own interests.

    That only means that we’ve more work to do.

    Welcome to the World.

    jw

  51. 51.

    The Thin Black Duke

    June 14, 2015 at 9:21 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Unfortunately, I think you already know the answer to your question.

  52. 52.

    Suzanne

    June 14, 2015 at 9:21 pm

    @Mnemosyne (tablet): Hugs. I hope things get back to some kind of normal for them, and for you, soon.

  53. 53.

    somethingblue

    June 14, 2015 at 9:23 pm

    @RSA:

    Obligatory.

  54. 54.

    redshirt

    June 14, 2015 at 9:31 pm

    That Overton Window’s gonna shift to “sanity” any year now.

  55. 55.

    Tenar Darell

    June 14, 2015 at 9:37 pm

    When on a Sunday night is it appropriate to get mad about a loud backyard party at a nearby neighbor’s? This things sounds like great fun, but also like it won’t be over by 10. And I’m getting all “get off your lawn!”

    @NCSteve: What happened with the “defund the courts if you don’t rule my way” bill? Or am I mixing you up with another Koch subsidiary?

  56. 56.

    raven

    June 14, 2015 at 9:39 pm

    @Tenar Darell: We have a noise ordinance.

  57. 57.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    June 14, 2015 at 9:39 pm

    @somethingblue: Classic. Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  58. 58.

    Suzanne

    June 14, 2015 at 9:39 pm

    @Tenar Darell: Is school still in session? If not, I think it’ sol to go until at midnight at the very least.

  59. 59.

    NotMax

    June 14, 2015 at 9:41 pm

    @Tenar Darell

    Really, if it’s a one-off (like a graduation party or similar) rather than a regular occurrence, let it go.

    My 2¢.

  60. 60.

    PurpleGirl

    June 14, 2015 at 9:41 pm

    @Suzanne: Ah, but his circle of Hell might be far, far worse than the circle level you end up in. It’s all relative and he is definitely a much worse example of human shit.

  61. 61.

    Pogonip

    June 14, 2015 at 9:43 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Yup, our school was called Jinenkan, an offshoot of Bujinkan. They do a good job of teaching you to prepare for emergencies.

  62. 62.

    Mandalay

    June 14, 2015 at 9:44 pm

    Whoa!….

    The final plan raises the state sales tax from 6.15 percent to 6.5 percent. Senators ultimately gave up on a quest to tax groceries at a lower rate.

    That means Kansans will pay the second-highest sales tax on food in the nation, trailing only Mississippi’s 7 percent.

    When local sales tax levies are added, most Kansans will pay the nation’s highest tax on food — more than 9 percent in some areas.

    The worst states for state tax on food?…
    #1 Mississippi
    #2 Kansas
    #3 Idaho
    #4 Tennessee

    I blame Obama.

  63. 63.

    Mike G

    June 14, 2015 at 9:45 pm

    He has pushed for significant increases in consumption taxes on general sales, cigarettes and liquor to address next year’s deficit.

    And now we get down to the truth of Republican ideology, that the only taxes that matter are those on the rich and businesses. Raising those is worse than Lenin gay-marrying Hitler at the Reagan Library, but increases on the little people don’t count. Grover Norquist won’t be making any angry calls over screwing the little people to keep taxes down on his patrons.

  64. 64.

    Kropadope

    June 14, 2015 at 9:45 pm

    @redshirt:

    That Overton Window’s gonna shift to “sanity” any year now.

    Only possible if the window is cylindrical and may return from the other side.

  65. 65.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 14, 2015 at 9:45 pm

    @Mnemosyne (tablet):

    Just messaged you on your blog.

  66. 66.

    Pogonip

    June 14, 2015 at 9:45 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: P.S. you’re exactly the same size as my little boy.

  67. 67.

    RSA

    June 14, 2015 at 9:46 pm

    @SFAW:

    You have it backwards.

    Indeed I did, sadly.

    @somethingblue: Thanks, I’d never seen that.

  68. 68.

    redshirt

    June 14, 2015 at 9:48 pm

    Any martial art is good for self defense. My Tae Kwan Do paid off big time when the large dude with a sledgehammer tried to kill me.

  69. 69.

    Suzanne

    June 14, 2015 at 9:48 pm

    @PurpleGirl: Not sure about that. One time, I hocked a loogie on a car that had a Romney bumper sticker on it. In front of my kids. I am a positive example.

  70. 70.

    Mandalay

    June 14, 2015 at 9:51 pm

    @Mike G:

    And now we get down to the truth of Republican ideology, that the only taxes that matter are those on the rich and businesses.

    Exactly. It’s just mind boggling that in Kansas you can soon be paying over 9% tax on milk, bread and potatoes, proudly imposed on you by the party of low taxes.

  71. 71.

    Tenar Darell

    June 14, 2015 at 9:51 pm

    They’re already softening up the music, even though the people noises are still loud. Sounds like stragglers went inside.

    @raven: There probably is one, but I don’t think I’d use it. More wondering when it’s appropriate to get all cranky. /heh

    @Suzanne: Huh, yes! I think school is actually on extra days, due to the massive snows of the winter that came.

  72. 72.

    fuckwit

    June 14, 2015 at 9:52 pm

    @Mandalay: They tax… FOOD???? What the hell? I don’t think I’ve ever lived in a state where sales tax applied to groceries. I didn’t know that was even legal.

    I was being sardonic about “Kill the Poor”, but taxing groceries is much further along towards eugenics than I’d have ever expected.

    I need to get off of the internets. This stuff is not helping my attitude at all.

  73. 73.

    Ruckus

    June 14, 2015 at 9:53 pm

    @Suzanne:
    I was trying not to laugh too much when I saw a Carson 16 sticker the other day. In sunny socal. I thought about riding up to him, pointing and laughing but figured anyone that stupid wouldn’t get the message.

  74. 74.

    redshirt

    June 14, 2015 at 9:53 pm

    @fuckwit: Knowing the truth will fuck with your mind.

  75. 75.

    Kropadope

    June 14, 2015 at 9:56 pm

    @fuckwit: It’s legal, but most states don’t do it because food is vital to living. It’s rare that the Rs are this brazen demonstrating their ideology of harming the poor.

  76. 76.

    ArchTeryx

    June 14, 2015 at 9:56 pm

    @fuckwit: They don’t just tax food, they now will tax it at upwards of 9%, which EASILY makes them the most punitive in the nation. They’re taking this ‘race to the bottom’ shit really seriously in Kansas.

  77. 77.

    gene108

    June 14, 2015 at 9:56 pm

    Crazy, no team is going to their bench. They are playing small and running those guys down

  78. 78.

    PurpleGirl

    June 14, 2015 at 9:57 pm

    @Suzanne: The very, very lowest circle of Hell. And that only for doing it in front of the kids. A car with a Romney sticker deserved it.

  79. 79.

    Gin & Tonic

    June 14, 2015 at 9:57 pm

    This is an exciting basketball game.

  80. 80.

    srv

    June 14, 2015 at 9:57 pm

    @yodecat: As Dorothy found out, if there’s anything to learn from Kansas, it’s that change only comes through violence.

    The John Coles of the Left understand that.

  81. 81.

    gene108

    June 14, 2015 at 9:58 pm

    @Kropadope:

    It’s rare that the Rs are this brazen demonstrating their ideology of harming the poor.

    The poors don’t vote in significant numbers, so politicians suffer few repercussions from harming the poor.

  82. 82.

    Kropadope

    June 14, 2015 at 10:03 pm

    Wow, I may never watch Game of Thrones again. Not only are we miles away from the book, but the changes don’t even make sense.

  83. 83.

    fdrlincoln

    June 14, 2015 at 10:04 pm

    46 percent of us here in Kansas didn’t vote for him. We don’t deserve it.

    Ironically, the parts of the state that voted most strongly for Brownie are the ones who will be hurt worst by him

  84. 84.

    Mandalay

    June 14, 2015 at 10:04 pm

    @fuckwit:

    taxing groceries is much further along towards eugenics than I’d have ever expected

    Brownback would prefer that you think of it as his benevolent plan to reduce obesity among the poor: if you can’t afford to buy food you can’t get fat.

  85. 85.

    rikyrah

    June 14, 2015 at 10:08 pm

    I have no sympathy for the people of Kansas, who chose to re-elect Brownback.

  86. 86.

    Mnemosyne

    June 14, 2015 at 10:08 pm

    @Suzanne:

    There was a plan for them to come out and visit California before this all happened, so that’s another reason I want to be careful not to rock the boat just yet. I’m pretty sure their mom will let them, but we’ll see.

  87. 87.

    gene108

    June 14, 2015 at 10:08 pm

    @fdrlincoln:

    Which parts of the state? I know very little about the population distribution in Kansas.

  88. 88.

    Suzanne

    June 14, 2015 at 10:09 pm

    I didn’t even realize that groceries weren’t taxed in some places. Weird. A hike on sales tax, including groceries, was considered a win here because it went to the schools, to make up the budget shortfalls left in education from our lovely Republican governors.

  89. 89.

    PurpleGirl

    June 14, 2015 at 10:10 pm

    @Mandalay: Actually, no. The food they will be able to afford is mostly starch and carbohydrates which will make them fatter and more prone to diabetes and other illnesses.The food most likely to be healthier is also more expensive. The cheap stuff fills you up and makes you feel like you’ve eaten enough.

  90. 90.

    Suzanne

    June 14, 2015 at 10:10 pm

    @Tenar Darell: If school is still in, they should STFU by 10.

  91. 91.

    PurpleGirl

    June 14, 2015 at 10:12 pm

    @Suzanne: For example, NYC/NYS does not tax food. Soda yes, but not food itself. They tax restaurant meals but not at the grocery store.

  92. 92.

    Tenar Darell

    June 14, 2015 at 10:19 pm

    @Suzanne: Pretty close. 10:15

  93. 93.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 14, 2015 at 10:20 pm

    @Pogonip: Not so little.

  94. 94.

    Tenar Darell

    June 14, 2015 at 10:24 pm

    @Suzanne: Massachusetts doesn’t tax groceries or individual items of clothes under $175. Really.

  95. 95.

    gene108

    June 14, 2015 at 10:26 pm

    I don’t think Cleveland is going to be able to pull this out.

  96. 96.

    ruemara

    June 14, 2015 at 10:28 pm

    @Mnemosyne (tablet): welcome to the time suck. If I didn’t have facebook, I wouldn’t have a single human in my life, so I can’t really bitch about it.

  97. 97.

    Gin & Tonic

    June 14, 2015 at 10:29 pm

    @Tenar Darell: RI does not tax groceries or clothing at all.

  98. 98.

    Keith G

    June 14, 2015 at 10:41 pm

    @gene108: Neither will John Snow.

  99. 99.

    rmirth

    June 14, 2015 at 10:46 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Also Pennsylvania– no taxes on groceries or clothing.

  100. 100.

    Sherparick

    June 14, 2015 at 10:49 pm

    @Shakezula: The majority that showed up to vote in an off year election. http://cjonline.com/news/2014-11-26/kansas-voter-turnout-election-slightly-exceeded-prediction About 51% of register voters. We don’t make voting easy, and it is pretty rational for any one person to consider his one vote out of 2 million to be fairly meaningless. So generally one needs to be part of an organization that makes you motivated to vote. Even in Kansas, those organizations use to be unions, but with those organizations defenestrated, it is employers and churches who organize the members of their organization to vote the right way along with the fanatics of the right.

  101. 101.

    CaseyL

    June 14, 2015 at 10:56 pm

    No tax on grocery food in Washington state – though if you buy prepared food at the grocery,like a sandwich from the deli, you do pay taxes on that.

    Other than that, Washington has one of the most regressive tax structures in the country, mostly because voters passed a couple of bone-headed initiatives a few years ago. One pretty much eliminated the excise tax on cars, which kicked the legs out from under transportation and infrastructure funding, Another made it so any new taxes have to face a state-wide referendum.

    So the State Lege loads up on the sales tax, cigarette and booze, and treats property owners like cash cows.

    The current governor’s trying hard to get a capital gains tax passed, and eliminate some tax loopholes. But the state Senate is GOP majority, so that ain’t gonna happen. The problem with negotiating with the GOP is that they’re the usual collection of nihilists.

  102. 102.

    Mike in NC

    June 14, 2015 at 11:02 pm

    If you live in NC or SC, they tax the shit out of every goddamn thing. Because, Republicans.

  103. 103.

    Villago Delenda Est

    June 14, 2015 at 11:09 pm

    @Mike G: Which is precisely why Grover Norquist needs a tumbrel ride.

  104. 104.

    catclub

    June 14, 2015 at 11:11 pm

    @raven: Cavs seems to be able to go three quarters. unfortunately for them, there are four to a game.

  105. 105.

    John Revolta

    June 14, 2015 at 11:36 pm

    Okay, says here that most of the states that charge tax on food allow you to take it off your income tax.
    Doesn’t say what happens if you’re too poor to PAY income tax though………

  106. 106.

    Lavocat

    June 14, 2015 at 11:42 pm

    Kansans brought this trickle-down golden shower upon themselves. Reap what you sow, motherfuckers! Everybody, point and laugh as elections do have consequences after all.

  107. 107.

    sraines

    June 14, 2015 at 11:47 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Vampire Plutocrats gonna suck you dry…

    https://soundcloud.com/dave-cadaqu/150426-vampire-plutocrats-d-drmp3

  108. 108.

    Gretchen

    June 15, 2015 at 12:57 am

    @srv: so the 48% of us who voted against him deserve to be screwed? F you. His opponent and the independent for Senate were both 8 points ahead the week before the election, yet somehow they both lost. Kris Kobach, our Secretary of State and the hyperpartisan who runs our elections, was working for the republican Senate candidate. It’s a mystery how a big chunk of the electorate switched sides at the last minute to elect the guys this Secretary of State wanted, rather than the guys the electorate said they wanted the week before the election.

  109. 109.

    Gretchen

    June 15, 2015 at 1:07 am

    To be clear: I think Brownback, Kobach & Co. cheated to get back into office. Kansas was sick of them before the election, the polls made that clear, and yet somehow they had a surprise victory to continue to F up the state for another 4 years. The state didn’t want this, didn’t vote for this, and doesn’t deserve the rest of you chortling over it.

  110. 110.

    fdrlincoln

    June 15, 2015 at 1:22 am

    I live in Lawrence, a very blue and liberal college town. Parts of the KC Metro are blueish to purple. Topeka metro area is purple. The rest of the state is red especially rural areas which are very pro Brownback.

    Education cuts and refusal to expand Medicaid are crippling the rural areas but they voted to strongly re elect him. Lawrence voted against him strongly and the Topeka metro voted against him narrowly. Kansas City area was split between rich areas that supported him and middle and lower class areas did not.

    Wichita metro is reddish. The split statewide was Brownback 50, the Democrat 46, libertarian 4. Since he won 65 to 35 in 2010, he lost a large portion of his vote. But it wasn’t quite enough.

  111. 111.

    fdrlincoln

    June 15, 2015 at 1:35 am

    Gretchen is correct about the polls. All public polls showed Brownback losing. And internal party polls both Democratic and GOP showed Brownback losing.

  112. 112.

    piratedan

    June 15, 2015 at 2:12 am

    @Gretchen: welcome to how most of us in Arizona feel about our elected officials

  113. 113.

    TriassicSands

    June 15, 2015 at 4:36 am

    I feel sorry for the Kansans who didn’t vote for moronic, sociopathic Republicans. Those who did vote for Brownback et al. deserve what they’re getting and worse for the pain they’re inflicting on others.

  114. 114.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    June 15, 2015 at 10:48 am

    I always thought SF was one of those peaceful blue areas (never been there).

    @Pogonip: You should go. You can get a beatdown from some rich kids acting like they’re homeless up on Haight street, get your ass kicked by some real homeless down in the Tenderloin, and then a third beatdown from the cops that you call.

    It’s a hell of a town. I was the right age to live there when I lived there, you couldn’t pay me enough these days. If I thought for a second it represented some sort of triumph of liberal ideals in government I’d have switched and sworn to be a lifelong Republican right now, because SF is the lousiest shithole of a town I’ve ever lived in.

  115. 115.

    Fr33d0m

    June 15, 2015 at 11:17 am

    Hey Repugnicons, your cool aide causes extreme photosensitivity. Take care that you never see the light of day if you drink it–you just might get burned.

  116. 116.

    Procopius

    June 15, 2015 at 11:25 am

    @Keith G: It’s necessary to rebuild the Democratic Leadership Council and the Blue Dog Caucus first. Once they have a majority of the Democratic Party we can think about starting to find loyal candidates to run in the states that are easiest. A few years after that, we’ll hope they don’t all get voted out of office the way they did in 2010 and 2014. Maybe Rahm Emanuel will come back and help us.

  117. 117.

    Parfigliano

    June 15, 2015 at 12:52 pm

    @ArchTeryx: Screw Kansas. Brownback told Kansas his Econ plan and they voted for him twice. Now they are getting exactly what they voted for. I have zero sympathy

  118. 118.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks

    June 15, 2015 at 7:25 pm

    Nah. I want to see him get found out wearing 2 wetsuits with a dildo up his ass while still fully alive and reasonably sentient. I wouldn’t want him to miss his humiliation.

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