The treason summit

Happy one week anniversary of the treason summit.  Due to the cascade of Donald Trump’s tweets and the media’s short attention span, the abomination that was Trump/Putin press conference is out of sight and out of mind.

As much as we’d like to pin it on him, this mess is not Trump’s fault.  He’s doing the best he can with a very limited amount of intelligence and acumen.  If he was a musician we would say that he is working with a damaged instrument.  That’s not exactly true.  It would be more akin to a first year piano student playing on an old out of tune upright with 20 broken strings.

The Republicans in Congress are the ones to blame.  If they had an ounce of integrity we would be deep into impeachment hearings and a Pence administration would be imminent.  (not that a Pence administration would be a day at the beach)  Instead we have a few squeaky wheels who are not running for reelection, i.e. John McCain and Bob Corker, and a trove of servile,  quiescent lackeys.  These scoundrels are content to stack the courts with conservative judges, gut affordable health care, see that the American populous is armed, and rape the ecology.

The fix is in and has been for many years.  Welcome to the endgame.

 

That didn’t take long

For the past several months social media has been rife with snark.  Facebook and the Twitterati have turned the decibel level up to 10, gloating over Donald Trump’s poor approval ratings and the inevitable Blue sweep of the Congress in the November midterms.  So why was I not surprised when CNN released a poll yesterday saying the the midterm races were in a dead heat?

Puke-faced millennial social media mavens can talk trash until carpal tunnel sets in, but that’s not going to change the fact that we live in an uneducated, racist society that could care less that a narcissistic dullard is president.  Throw in the fact that the Republicans that *are* educated are making so much money off of this administration that they, too, are happy to turn a blind eye.

Folks, the fix was in long before Trump became president. Between gerrymandering, the gradual dumbing down of our nation through massive education cuts, and a gluttonous one percent, we have long been a lost cause.  Time to batten down the hatches — we’re in for a rough ride.

 

 

Maverick

John McCain voted against Donald Trump’s draconian health care bill and once again people are hailing him as a maverick.  I’m happy with his vote but less effusive than most.  He’s got nothing to lose by voting his conscience.  I’m wondering if he was persuaded to come to Washington by moderate Senators who couldn’t afford to spend the political capital.

At any rate it’s remarkable that so many Senators – 49 – would vote for a bill that would essentially deny many Americans health care, defacto condemning a portion of them to death.  These people should rot in hell.

Leave the Maggots alone, only Congress can save us now.

Yesterday the Washington Post broke the story that Donald Trump may have inadvertently leaked classified information to the Russians.  This prompted immediate calls from my left wing brethren for impeachment.

Many people are still upset at the heartland folks who comprise Trump’s base, but I believe that they are now irrelevant.  The MAGA (Make America Great Again) folks are no longer the problem.  Sure, they did their part to get Fucko elected, but they no longer have any power.  Indeed with the absence of affordable health care and job opportunities, they are screwed under the Trump administration’s legislation.

It’s now up to the Republican Congressmen to impeach Trump. They are the only ones that can fix this mess.  Not the press, not protesters, and not the Democratic minority.  I don’t hold out much hope.

A Small Victory

Trump Care, or to be more apt, Death Care, was withdrawn by a House that didn’t have enough Republican votes to get it through to the Senate.  I can’t seem to wrap my head around the reason for its failure.  Was it because of moderate Republicans who would have to face a constituency that would find itself either uninsured or paying up the wazoola for health care?  Or was it because of hard-line, conservative Republicans who thought that the bill was too generous and will not be happy until there are bread lines.

Either way…phew!

It’s hard to believe that the Trump administration thought that they could ram this bill through Congress in a month’s time and move on to gutting the infrastructure of the country via a budget bill.  Talk about hubris.

Let the insanity begin

We’re less than a week into Donald Trump’s presidency and it’s clear that we have elected a madman. He continues, without a shred of evidence,  to assert the lie that millions of people voted for Hillary Clinton illegally. He appears to want to make good on his promise to build a wall along our southern border even though it will cost billions and do little to prevent illegal immigration.  It looks like he’ll do his best to gut the EPA and inhibit efforts to contain global warming.  All in less than one week!

The folks for whom I reserve my greatest contempt, however, are the Republican Congressman and operatives.  Unlike Trump, these people know what they’re doing.  They’re gutting our countries natural resources, selling out the younger generation, feeding the rich, and taxing and imprisoning the poor.  All for their own benefit.  They can rot in hell as far as I’m concerned.

Follow the money

I thought that Obama made a great speech last night.  Then again, that’s what he does — he’s a great orator.  We have yet to see him back up his rhetoric with bold ideas.  I was glad that he called out the Republicans in Congress, when he made his gentle gibe about simple math. 

Should we keep tax loopholes for oil companies?  Or should we use that money to give small business owners a tax credit when they hire new workers?  Because we can’t afford to do both.  Should we keep tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires?  Or should we put teachers back to work so our kids can graduate ready for college and good jobs?  Right now, we can’t afford to do both.  

This isn’t political grandstanding.  This isn’t class warfare.  This is simple math.  This is simple math.  These are real choices.  These are real choices that we’ve got to make.  And I’m pretty sure I know what most Americans would choose.  It’s not even close. 

It’s interesting to note that the bulk of the cost of Obama’s jobs program will be incurred in the form of tax breaks which will be given to companies as incentives for hiring.  Even though Obama paid lip service to the idea that the rich should pay more taxes,  (why should Warren Buffet pay less taxes than his secretary?) I will be surprised if such taxes are enacted.  I cannot believe that the obscenely wealthy should be entitled to such an advantage when the economy is hanging by a thread.  Then again, big money is a formidable force to be reckoned with.

Certain issues in politics confound me, until I remember that there are forces unseen that are guiding the issues.  Behind such forces is big money. 

Health care is something we can seemingly all agree on.  Why shouldn’t there be a public option — polls show that the public favors it.  Yet it was a nonstarter during the health care reform debate of 18 months ago.  The answer is that the health insurance lobby is an exceptionally strong and wealthy force.  They don’t want it, ergo we can’t have it.

Gun control is another such issue.  Who in the general populace is in favor of automatic weapons?  I would guess the answer is well less than one percent.  Yet efforts to try to ban such weapons are quixotic to the point that members of either party would be risking political suicide to even attempt reform.  Again…follow the money.

The same could be said of the Iraq war.  It was obvious that the Bush and Blair administrations had no concrete evidence that Saddam had been harboring terrorists.  Yet we went in.  Why would we kill tens of thousands of innocent people, and spend trillions of dollars on an invasion that was, at best, a distraction from the ongoing war in Afghanistan?  Of course it was about money.  Either that, or stupidity.  Take your pick.

Will we ever learn?

Every so often we are reminded of what a violent society we live in and how little hope there is of it changing.  The six fatalities and the near-fatal shooting of Arizona Representative, Gabrielle Giffords by a lone gunmen is an all too familiar tragedy in a country that refuses to implement effective gun control. 

Yesterday I heard an interview with one of Gifford’s fellow Arizona Congressman.  When asked what could be done to avoid such an incident he feebly replied that “Americans have to find a way to be more civil with each other.” 

Really?  Is that the best you’ve got? 

The interviewer pressed on asking the Congressman to elucidate, but he did little more than rephrase his original answer.  Gun control was obviously not even close to entering the equation. 

Thanks to an antiquated amendment which had more to do with protecting American Revolutionary’s from British soldiers than an inalienable right to buy an automatic weapon, we have a populace that has easy access to guns that can fire thirty-three bullets at a clip. 

I’m all for allowing people to own rifles and to hunt animals for sport.  I can’t understand the need to have a weapon that’s purpose is to kill people.  Why must we repeat this same tragedy time and again? 

Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey  said he would introduce a measure to re-establish a prohibition that lapsed in 2004 on clips that feed more than 10 rounds at a time.  He said, “The only reason to have 33 bullets loaded in a handgun is to kill a lot of people very quickly. These high-capacity clips simply should not be on the market.”

Gun control advocates are going to tell me that people who really want guns will get them.  Fine.  You can’t tell me, however, that effective gun control would not save any lives.  Even if it were only to save one or two lives a year it’s worth it.  Who cares if the gun companies make less money?  That’s what this boils down to, doesn’t it.

Now playing in Congress: Dog and pony show.

You can’t make this stuff up.  The new Republican congress is dedicated to slashing spending, thereby making it impossible for the sick to receive health care and the unemployed to receive relief.  Before they got down to the business of spreading hopelessness to the unemployed there was a show to put on — a reading of the U.S. constitution. 

This would have been corny in high school but the fact that elected officials — grown men and women who are ostensibly working — have to waste our time in an Orwellian act of patriotism is mind-boggling to put it mildly.  I’m hoping they’ll go over weights and measures tomorrow.  I’m a little rusty in that department.    

During the reading of the section that states that the president must be a U.S. citizen, some nimrod in the gallery yelled out, “Except for Obama!”  Yes, that old chestnut. 

 I love how there is a name for these kind of people:  Birthers.  It’s like a cult.  No matter how much evidence is presented to the contrary birthers swear that Obama is not a citizen.  Isn’t it amazing how easily the country was taken over by an Arab communist?  Seriously, I am thankful that I was not born a birther.  Imagine the fear that permeates these cretin’s existence.  It has to be exhausting. 

CNN, that hard-hitting news station, dug deep and came up with a constitutional activist — Janine Turner.    What a surprise — a blond pundit!   She looked like Howdy Doody on acid.  Turner carefully explained that she was not a birther, but that she had grave concerns about where Obama’s birth certificate was.  Turner defended the congressional heckler by saying it was a symbolic act.  I would agree — it symbolizes the systematic dumbing down of our population.      

Janine Turner

The Republican rope-a-dope.

Every once in a while I am reminded of just how out of step I am with the majority of the American people.  Last night was one of those nights.  The idea that a Republican led Congress bent on cutting spending and rolling back the health care bill has the best interest of our country in mind is laughable. 

Representative John Boehner, who almost certainly will be our next Speaker of the House, had this to say: 

“I believe that the health care bill that was enacted by the current Congress will kill jobs in America, ruin the best health care system in the world and bankrupt our country.  That means that we have to do everything we can to try to repeal this bill, and replace it with common-sense reforms that will bring down the cost of health insurance.”

Am I missing something?  The last time I checked our health care was ranked 37th in the world, which puts us smack dab between Slovenia and Costa Rica.  The Republicans had months to come up with a decent alternative and they failed.  Why?  Because their primary objective is to see that Obama is a one term president.  Not that they would have focused on health care had they controlled the executive branch.  They held the presidency for 20 out of the 28 years without so much as an attempt at modifying health care.  Now that they are out of power they offer no solutions, only obstruction. 

It defies logic that anyone earning under $100,000 a year would ever vote Republican.  Who are they identifying with?  Barbara Bachman is never going to invite you to her country club for a set of tennis and John McCain could give a rat’s ass whether or not you are denied health insurance for  a pre-existing condition. 

Obama is no liberal.  He has failed to amend FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) to end illegal wire tapping.  He has not prosecuted members of the Bush administration for war crimes, i.e. torture and war profiteering.  He has been late to take a strong stance against Dont Ask, Dont Tell, and most important of all he has failed to enact tougher regulations on the banking industry. 

He has, however, done a good job with the extremely poor hand he was dealt.  For all of the chastising Obama has endured over the state of the economy, he actually saved it.  TARP — the Troubled Asset Relief Program —  probably staved off a depression, and ended up recouping all of the money that was loaned.  With interest.  Contrast this with the Republicans, whose primary goal is to see that the Bush tax cuts become permanent; cuts that largely benefit the top one percent of earners.  And Obama is the elitist?!  

As always the elephant in the room is racism, and it is hardly subtle.  When the Republicans refer to Obama as ‘different’ we all know what this is code for.  This covert rhetoric is an enormous source of their support.  Tea Partiers and Republicans alike would have you believe that big government is evil.  This is specious to say the least.  No one in his or her right mind would support de-funding of the military, Social Security, or Medicare.   Cutting education, food stamps, and keeping the minimum wage stagnant…now that’s a horse of a different color.             

This man would not have a beer with you.