Time Out
Sorry I’ve been so quiet recently. I’ve been out of town/state/country, and I’ve taken the opportunity to go on a Trump break. I’ll resume when I get back.
Fun Figures
Mar 13, 2017
Arithmetic for Americans. First, local, state and federal governments spend about $21,000 for every man, woman and child in the US. That’s the baseline. I’m always surprised when people get frosted about the US spending their hard-earned dollars (their emphasis) on that.. (and they’ll sputter for a second) art. When people in America are starving! (Somewhere, they’re sure, although they never really cared enough to...
Reform the Language
Mar 10, 2017
Pay no attention to the Reform behind the curtain. Don’t forget: Republican ‘reform’ is another lie, trying to get you to blink and turn away. They’re not talking about reforming anything. I’m reading about the Republican Party looking toward Tax Reform. A Google search for ‘Tax Reform 2017’ returns 15 million hits. Here are some typical headlines this month: Fox News: McConnell hits brakes on...
Trump Purges State Department
Mar 10, 2017
Is the State Department just under-priced real estate? The Trump Administration has removed dozens of State Department people, and more are streaming out. First, the entire senior administrative team resigned, and there have been dozens more since then who’ve left or not been requested to stay. Most of these are career positions, not political appointees. As former Ambassador Daniel Fried said on Rachael Maddow, it’s...
Government Does Not Fund Planned Parenthood
Mar 8, 2017
I see so many articles about whether the government should ‘fund Planned Parenthood.’ (Or, today, ‘de-fund’ the organization.) Since that’s a Republican lie, you’d think the ‘liberal media’ wouldn’t go along, but since ‘the liberal media’ is another lie, what can you do? The government doesn’t fund Planned Parenthood. It never has. Agencies get funded, not healthcare providers. Republicans started that lie long ago, and...
Muslim Ban 2.0
Mar 7, 2017
The new Muslim ban is out, and it’s still terrible. I really hate this stuff, but at least it’s a different category. Normally, I have so much Trump crazy to talk about that I don’t have time to do the Republican crazy. This is what Trump promised to his crowds. It’s a key Republican position. It’s still as racist, xenophobic and wrong-headed as always, but...
Republicans Release Healthcare Draft
Mar 7, 2017
TrumpCare Death Spiral? On Monday morning, House Republicans chipped out their first TrumpCare draft. It was a terrible, half-hearted, miserable, disingenuous piece of political noise. The only surprising part was that they put out something this unfinished. Poor thing had almost no chance; dead on arrival. Why isn’t there a real Republican healthcare plan? That’s easy. The ACA was the Republican plan, modeled on the...
Watching the Rosenstein/Brand Hearing
Mar 7, 2017
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