The Facts, Ma’am — Just The Facts

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Economic issues, education, Election 2022, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

I happened across an article in this morning’s news saying that Kellyanne Conway (remember her, the head bootlicker for a time and inventor of the phrase “alternative facts”) says Trump isn’t lying as much these days.  Yeah, right Kelly … go peddle your own lies somewhere else, for I’m immune to them.  Robert Reich’s column today, however, deals with the lies the Republican Party is relying on to rile the masses and give their candidates a boost on November 8th.  And these are in addition to the Big Lie!!!  Seems to me that if they need so many lies in order to win, their candidates must not be of very high quality.  (Yeah, I know, the understatement of the century 🙄)

The 3 biggest GOP lies of the midterms (in addition to the Big Lie)

Know the truth and spread it.

Robert Reich

17 October 2022

It’s not just the Big Lie. Republicans are telling three other lies they hope will swing the midterms.

They involve crime, inflation, and taxes. 

Here are the GOP’s claims, followed by the facts.

  1. They claim crime is rising because Democrats have been “soft” on crime.

Rubbish. Rising crime rates are due to the proliferation of guns, which Republicans refuse to control.

While violent crime rose 28 percent from 2019 to 2020, gun homicides rose 35 percent. States that have weakened gun laws have seen gun crime surge. Clearly, a major driver of the national increase in violence is the easy availability of guns.

The violence can’t be explained by any of the Republican talking points about “soft on crime” Democrats.

Lack of police funding? No. On average, all cities — whether run by Democrats or Republicans — saw an increase in police funding in 2022.

Criminal justice reforms? No. Wherever bail reforms have been implemented, re-arrest rates remain stable. Data shows no connection between the policies of progressive prosecutors and changes in crime rates.

In fact, crime is rising faster in Republican, Trump-supporting states. In 2020, per capita murder rates were 40 percent higher in states won by Trump than in those won by Joe Biden.

Republican policies have made it easier for people to get and carry guns. Republicans are lying about the real cause of rising crime to protect some of their biggest supporters, big gun manufacturers and the NRA.

  1. Republicans claim that inflation is due to Biden’s spending, and wage increases.

Baloney. Biden’s spending can’t be causing our current inflation because inflation has broken out everywhere around the world, often at much higher rates than in the US. 

Besides, heavy spending by the US government began in 2020, before the Biden administration, in order to protect Americans and the economy from the ravages of COVID-19 — and it was necessary.

Wages can’t be pushing inflation because wages have been increasing at a slower pace than prices — leaving most workers worse off.  

The major cause of the current inflation is the global post-pandemic shortage of all sorts of things, coupled with Putin’s war in Ukraine and China’s lockdowns.

The biggest domestic culprit for America’s current inflation is big corporations that are using inflation as an excuse for raising prices above their own cost increases, resulting in the highest profit margins since 1950 — while consumers are paying through the nose.

The biggest domestic cause of inflation is corporate power. Republicans are lying about this to protect their big corporate patrons.

  1. Republicans say Democrats voted to hire an army of IRS agents who will audit and harass the middle class.

Wrong. The IRS won’t be going after the middle class. It will be going after ultra-wealthy tax cheats.

The Inflation Reduction Act, passed in July, provides funding to begin to get IRS staffing back to what it was before 2010, after which Republicans cut staff by roughly 30 percent, despite increases since then in the number of Americans filing tax returns.

The extra staff are needed to prevent high-end tax evasion, which is more difficult to root out (the ultra-wealthy hire squads of accountants and tax attorneys to hide their taxable incomes). It’s estimated that the richest 1 percent are hiding more than 20 percent of their earnings from the IRS.

The Treasury Department and the IRS have made it clear that audit rates for households earning $400,000 or under will remain same.

Republicans are lying about what the IRS will do with the new funding to protect their ultra-wealthy patrons.

None of these three lies is as brazen and damaging as Trump’s Big Lie. But they’re all being used by Republican candidates in these last weeks before the midterms. 

Know the truth and share it. 

12 thoughts on “The Facts, Ma’am — Just The Facts”

  1. Facts don’t matter & they never did. Maybe in a court of law … but even there, you can get almost turned around if you have a sympathetic judge who’s on your side & a lawyer who knows how to do that.

    When it comes to the media or anything posted on the internet, or anywhere else for that matter, facts are totally meaningless. People, now more than ever, believe what they want to believe & disregard the rest (to paraphrase Paul Simon) . You can provide all the proof you want, internet links, articles, books, authorities on the subject & it won’t matter. I’ve stopped arguing with people who won’t listen, who won’t change their minds or attitudes.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Oh KellyAnne Conway, haven’t heard that name in a while!

    Lies are a part of the campaign process I guess but boy did it feel so satisfying last week when Alex Jones got slapped with having to pay the families he tormented with his life almost $1B. Karma eventually comes for all of the liars!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Yeah, she isn’t in the news much these days … thankfully!!! Did you know her husband, George, is an avid anti-Trumper? I’ve often wondered what dinner table conversations in their house sounded like! 🤣

      No doubt most candidates will tell one or two lies, either intentionally or out of lack of knowledge, but the blatant lies and conspiracy theories being told by Republican candidates these days are anything but normal. Like you, I had to smile when I heard the verdict against Alex Jones … and he deserves it! Never a more vile creature have I heard of!

      Liked by 1 person

    • Yes, already I’m hearing about yet another new variant. Natasha and I just got our latest booster on Sunday … I’m hoping that will be the last, but doubt it. Yet, I go into a store and NOBODY but me is wearing a mask! Sigh. People. 🙄

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  5. I respect Mr. Reich, and agree with almost everything he says. But this post only addresses half the problem. Knowing the truth and sharing it is important. To do something about it, to make a plan to fight the lies, that is the NECESSARY second half. And that is where Mr. Reich fails.
    I am not condemning, but what I am doing is challenging him, or someone to get off their asses and fight! The Repughs already know the Dems won’t fight the lies, not directly. How can one fight a negative. It is impossible to prove god does not exist!
    The thing is, these lies are not negatives. They are provable. Mr. Reich has just told us where to look for the evidence. So let us compile it, and put it in the public domain. Advertise it over and over and over until viewers and listeners are sick of it! But do not use the word Republicans, and especially not the names of Republican candidates. Say these are the facts, being presented by the Democratic Party, and state the names of the Democratic candidates in the viewing and listening areas, and push their names every chance you get.
    Talk about policies for the future, yes, that is necessary especially when the opponents have no idea what a policy is. But talk mostly about the real, tangible changes that have been made in the past 2 years. And state the facts that prove those changes are real!
    And definitely talk about Roe v Wade, and how a vote for a Democrat candidate is a vote for personal freedom, and a positive vote for democracy.

    Liked by 2 people

  6. This is interesting to read because I was just watching last week tonight and John Oliver who was talking about how the police are refusing to get Covid shots and are encouraging their cohorts also and say they’re going to quit. I agree with John Oliver “ let them quit”. The point he put out that I also agree with is their entire job is based on protecting the public. So just another nail in the coffin type thing.😣

    Liked by 1 person

    • Indeed … the very people we’re supposed to be able to trust to protect us, are putting our lives in danger by refusing to act responsibly, to set an example, by caving to conspiracy theories. What a mess this nation has become.

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