Kickin' a$$ and takin' names

Democrats and Republicans conducting the People's business in Washington.

I recently saw a news clip of a Republican congressman giving the acting Attorney General hell because the Mueller investigation is taking so long.  "If Mueller has something, take it to the damn Grand Jury.  This is tearing the country apart."  He was upset because the investigation has so far taken one year.  For the record, the Nixon/Watergate investigation took TWO+ years, as did the Clinton/Lewinsky investigation and the House Benghazi investigation.  Why can't Mueller have the time he needs, too?

Here's what Congress should, but won't, do:  Both parties should ban all talk about Mueller's investigation.  They should zip their pie holes.  Don't respond to the latest tweet or leak.  Wave the press off.  Just go to work.  Let Mueller do his job, AND MAKE CONGRESS DO THEIRS.  

On a good day, many reports say, the typical congressman and Senator spends half his time fund raising so as to build up his campaign chest for his next election bid.  Then they spend most of their remaining day strategizing how, when, and at who they will poke another sharp stick in the eye of, and of course primping for their next TV appearance so they can lie to us about how hard they work blah blah blah.  That leaves them just a few precious minutes a day to actually DO anything.  If anything actually gets done in Washington, it's purely by accident.  You and I would get fired on our second day of work if we were that unproductive!

No foreign overseas frolicking at the taxpayers expense. No spring/summer/fall/winter recesses.  They need to go to their offices and WORK.  Figure out what to do about North Korea, trade with China/Mexico/Canada/Europe, immigration, how to cyber smack Russia, fix our decrepit roads and bridges and air traffic control system, etc.  No one can go home, no one can get paid, no one is eligible for re-election UNLESS they work out something with the other party.  There is no shortage of projects that needs urgent attention.

Kickin' ass and takin' names.  Who's with me?

S

Everyone has an agenda

Our national attention span seems to last only few days at a time.  The media reports one thing, President Trump says another, and it's into the pit we go for another round of mud wrestling.  Then the next week we're on to something else.

Our most recent bout with dysfunction resolves around whether the FBI used the infamous Steele dossier (written by former British MI6 agent Christopher Steele) as the basis for obtaining a FISA court order allowing eavesdropping on the Trump campaign in 2016.  

Republicans say that Mr Steele was working for the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was in turn being paid by the Democratic National Committee, and that his dossier should therefore automatically be considered biased and invalid.  "No Steele dossier, no FISA court order, no FBI spying, case dismissed" they say.  The Democrats....wait for it....disagree!  *BIG shock*

Brief background:  The investigation by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS on Donald Trump was initially funded by a conservative political website, and was later picked up and funded by the Democrats after Trump emerged as the probable Republican nominee.  Fusion GPS contracted with Steele, asking him to use his foreign connections to investigate Trump.  Following Trump's election funding from the Democrats ceased, but Steele continued working on the report, with financing coming directly from Fusion GPS principal Glen Simpson. 

Lost in all this "yes he did...no he didn't" BS is this:  Is the information contained in the dossier true?  If the collection of 17 memos, aka "the dossier", written by Steele between June and December 2016 are accurate, then I personally don't care who paid for it.  I don't want Russia worming their way into our election system, and possibly into a position where they can blackmail a candidate they helped.   

We're not talking about a friendly Australia or Canada or even Spain here folks....but RUSSIA!  Russia is NOT our friend.  Vladimir Putin longs to see Russia elevated back to the level of power and prestige enjoyed by the old Soviet Union.  Contrary to popular myth, Russia in NOT a great  economic power today.  In fact, Russia's GDP is roughly equal to that of the state of California.  Their ace card, of course, is that they still possess a massive nuclear arsenal, and they are rapidly modernizing their conventional military forces as well.

Putin alone controls Russia.  The billionaire business oligarchs inside Russia operate with the approval and support of Vladimir Putin, and they in turn know that when Putin calls, they respond.  Nobody crosses him.  (The few that have tried have found themselves charged with "tax evasion" and locked up, or worse.)  Think of it as an old-school organized crime family.  Russia's objective is to weaken (mainly) the United States, NATO, and the European Union any way possible.  If the West bickers and fractures, Russia benefits.

This is a serious position we're in today.  Much is at stake.  Anyone who doesn't understand this and blindly tries to stymie Special Counsel Muller's investigation are potentially doing the United States great harm. Let Mueller do his job, and if there has been Russian collusion, say so and put away the guilty.  And if not, tell us that, too, and lets move on.

S

Oh my, the internet is on FIRE today.  Nasty political name calling is rampant.   It seems like we're on the verge of a coast-to-coast cage match.

From a slightly different perspective, let me ask you this:  Eventually Special Counsel Robert Mueller will come back with the findings of his year-long investigation.  If you're a PRO-Trumper, and the news comes back saying there WAS collusion between the Trump camp and Russia, will you accept the findings, after a trial by jury?  And if you're an ANTI-Trumper, and the news comes back saying there was NO collusion between the Trump camp and Russia, will you accept the findings?

Regardless of your preference, if you say you will NOT accept the findings of a thorough investigation (pending a proper trial if applicable) if it goes against your preferred outcome, then I contend you're an ANARCHIST.  You're not a patriot, or a loyal American, but a traitor to the principles our country was founded on. You're an ANARCHIST.  

Of course you can have an opinion, and you can bemoan a decision that goes against how you personally believe.  But if enough of you no longer care about democracy and the rule of law, then America is finished.   FINIS!  Turn out the lights....

So then what?  Is it every man for himself?  Do our AR-15's suddenly become useful for more than just "recreation"? And if the United States of America someday disintegrates, who's the big winner?  Who will be the world's BIG DOG still standing?  Think about that.

I say we'd best come back to reality, take a deep breath, and work together for the good of the country.  

Country over politics!

S

Why yes, I always carry my pet snake around my neck. Doesn't everybody?

Yesterday I had the opportunity to accompany the Mrs to an anti-Trump rally in downtown Dallas.  The first thing I noticed when we arrived was how flamboyant many of the protesters were.   For example, there were a few holding signs that said "F___TRUMP!", and a contingent from the LGBT community wearing rainbow flags as capes and dressed in attire hoping to get themselves on the 6 PM news.  It seemed to me they were appealing to those already on their side. 

Several of the speakers, based on their manner of presentation (not necessarily their agenda) were obviously, to me at least, in need of medication.  Their common stated goal was to see President Trump out of office and a Democratic majority in power.  I don't see how they could think their behavior and inflamed, angry rhetoric would help their cause.  (On the other side, literally and figuratively, and with police in between, were the white supremacists dressed in all black spewing their venom.)

Politically speaking, a poll taken late last year showed 24% of Americans identify themselves as Republicans, 31% identify themselves as Democrats,  BUT 42% IDENTIFY THEMSELVES AS INDEPENDENTS.  It will always be these independent voters who will push one party or the other over the top into power.

I remember decades ago during the Vietnam war when Senator Eugene McCarthy was running for the Democratic presidential nomination.  His campaign appealed to many youths (read: hippies) who were tired of the establishment.  They were often a rather unwashed looking group, so McCarthy implored his kids to "Be Clean For Gene".  He didn't ask them to give up their anti-war message, but to come across as thoughtful, respectful citizens not likely to repulse the independents whose votes they were courting.  A shallow charade?  Ummm, yes, but a smart charade if they expected to woo Main Street Americans.  (I guess they weren't clean enough as McCarthy didn't get the nomination.)

I see the Democrats in a similar position today.  By all means they should hold their rallies, carry their signs, make their speeches, and ask for volunteers and support.  But it seems to me they would have better success getting their school teacher neighbor, their plumber, their HR director at work, etc, to vote for their cause if they came across as more disciplined and less flamboyant.  Yes, shallow or not, image matters.

Just my opinion....

S

EDIT:  My wife has taken exception to my phrase, "there was a 'contingent'...."  There were not dozens, if that's your definition of "contingent", but there were three wearing flags as capes, one guy wearing a plaid skirt (I don't think it was a kilt), one guy wearing Ragged Ann-style makeup, and a dozen +/- signs saying "F___". 

If there comes a time when an opposition party sends a cameraman there, rest assured those are the ones they will put front and center on their campaign literature to use as scare tactics.  I say why give them any ammunition.

Again, just my opinion....

Follow the money

The Senate is currently on their third....or is it their fourth or fifth....iteration of a "Repeal and Replace ObamaCare" attempt, and this one is no better than the ones that came before it.  As bad as ObamaCare supposedly is, all their attempts to date have been giant steps BACKWARD.  The highlight of the current Republican bill is to give each state a "block grant", essentially a pot of cash, and then tell them to figure out what to do with health care.  "Not my circus, not my monkey" the Feds can then say.

Polls show less than 20% of Americans like this giant step backwards.  Neither does AARP, or the American Medical Association, or the various hospital associations, or the insurers, or the drug makers, or the American Cancer Society, The American Heart Association, the Diabetes Foundation, or any other group advocating on behalf of people with health issues.  So why are Republicans so hellbent on ramming this "reform" down our throats?  Who wins in this deal?

FOLLOW THE MONEY

The only logical explanation I can come up with is that, to Republicans, "Repeal and Replace ObamaCare" is simply a means to a greater goal.  They have told their ultra-wealthy mega-donors that they will deliver to them a giant tax cut, but before they can do that, they first have to come up with a pile of cash from somewhere.  That "somewhere", they have decreed, will be from the Federal healthcare kitty....cut a few hundred billion here, transfer it on to there.  But if they can't realize big savings via a repeal/replace bill, their promised wealth transfer, their REAL goal, is dead in the water.  

If you can think of another reason why congressional Republicans are pushing so hard to pass such a supremely unpopular bill, please let me know.

If they should ever succeed in achieving this goal, hold on!  Their next target will be Medicare and Social Security.  Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has already (correctly) labeled them as the two most expensive Federal programs that can be looted...er..."reformed" in order to realize great savings.  He just never tells us where those savings will go.

So, as is always the case, FOLLOW THE MONEY.  That will show you who is pulling the strings, and who the big winner will always be.

S

Label snobs

We are obsessed with labels.  Sometimes labels can serve a very useful purpose, but at other times they just get in the way.  How...why have we become like this?

When I was a kid in the last century I remember there were Ford guys and there were Chevy guys, and the two would never mix.  Each felt they were always right, and the other side was always wrong.  Fast forward and today we have rock-solid Lexus guys and Mercedes guys.

Wine:  Aristocrats (wannabe or actual) always chose French wines.  California wines were unthinkable.  Labels rule!

Style:  Neiman Marcus vs Saks Fifth Avenue has now deteriorated to Walmart vs Target.  Labels rule!

And of course, philosophy.  We Americans seem hopelessly wed to our labels of either Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, capitalist or socialist.  Labels rule!

Today there are a few new caveats, however.  A new subset of voters is based on race or gender or sexual preference.  A female candidate will pull in many more than the usual number of female voters.  A black candidate will get the black vote.  An LGBT candidate will likely get the LGBT vote.  Labels rule!

As President Nixon was boarding his helicopter to leave Washington back in 1974, there were still 24% of the American people (mostly hard-core Republicans) who supported him.  Labels rule!

Currently a vast majority of Republicans (but only 35% +/- of the population) feels President Trump is doing a great job.  Labels rule!

Listen up knuckleheads:  LABELS ARE STUPID!  We're being played.  It's a public relations game.  The PR guys can regurgitate on demand all the "facts" that support their point of view, and just conveniently omit those pesky facts that don't.  And if they don't have any facts to support their position, they just make some up.  Why do you think Snopes exists?

Democrats need to understand that Republicans CAN have some good ideas, and vice versa.  Capitalism is great, except when it's hijacked by greed.  Socialism is IMO generally flawed, but can also give us some incredibly useful programs, like public financing of schools, and (some would argue) Social Security and Medicare.

Learn to think for yourself, because if you let someone else think for you, they will own you.  And there's a label for that, too.

S

Exactly who is serving who here?

Many, many years ago when they thought I was too naive to catch on, they (one of our political parties) wanted me as one of their Precinct Chairmen.  They asked if I would accept, and I in return asked, "What exactly will I have to do?"  They explained I would need to knock on my neighbor's doors and ask for their vote, pass out literature, put campaign signs in lawns, host fundraisers for local party candidates, and just in general pledge my loyalty and support for all the candidates the party puts forward.  

"But what if I don't like the candidate you put forward?  What if I for some reason find your / our candidate to be unworthy of my and my neighbor's vote?  Do I still have to support him?"

They said, "yes", and I said "no thanks".

That, on a far grander scale, is what we're seeing in Washington right now.  Republicans seem to be honoring their loyalty pledge to their fellow party member, without reservation.  Every single intelligence agency head has publicly stated the Russians actively interfered in our recent election, but President Trump just gives it a "maybe".  "It might have been the Russians, or maybe someone else" he says.  "Who knows?"

Congressional Republicans almost uniformly say, "Yeah, well probably, I guess, but I'm not sure."  Why can't they put party aside and say, "Yes the Russians interfered, and I don't like it one damn bit!"  But they don't.  They just give President Trump a pass, who in turn will likely not even bring the matter up with Russian President Putin when they meet tomorrow at the G-20 summit.  Everyone is just tip-toeing around this little Russian bully.  Is Washington now a "Backbone Free Zone"?

So the party....either party....is now more important than our nation's sovereignty and security?  Unless they speak up boldly, now, I'll have to conclude their answer is "yes".  That's their dirty little secret.  To them the party is more important than The People they serve.

And that's why I will never be a member of either the Republican or Democratic Party.  My loyalty will never be given cart blanche to either party, ever. 

S

Have we put Cousin Eddie in charge?

I feel sorry for my conservative friends who are trying to divert attention away from President Trump and focus instead on what they think is a reasonable agenda.  They articulate something worthy of debate, and then the President dumps on their message with his regular 2 am stream of brain dysentery.

Our politicians all combined couldn't lead a 2-car funeral procession out of a parking lot.  Our healthcare situation is a mess.  The Democrat's answer was ObamaCare, and the best the Republicans can come up with is their ScrewYouAmericaCare.  That's it....Plan 1, ObamaCare; or Plan 2, ScrewYouAmericaCare.  

Where's Plan 3?  "Oh, there isn't a Plan 3" they tell us.  That's because we don't have leaders who can count beyond 2!  What they've proposed amounts to putting a band-aid on a sucking chest wound.  Not only can't they think outside the box, they can't even find the damn box!

Of course we need to control our borders.  Every country does.  But proposing a 21st Century "Maginot Line"-like wall to keep the "murdering, raping Mexicans" out, and then expecting the murdering, raping Mexicans to pay for it is about the most ridiculous thing I've ever head of.  Somebody please enroll Donnie John in a Dale Carnegie How To Win Friends And Influence People course.

Trade agreements need to be beneficial to all involved, but over time they sometime lose their fairness.  Calling all parties to sit down together and negotiate a mid-course re-alignment is reasonable, but that won't work if our Negotiator In Chief is slinging personal insults and threats at the other participants.  Make that a remedial How To Win Friends And Influence People course!

With the end of the Cold War many of our NATO partners let their guard down.  With just a few exceptions they spent their tax dollars on everything but their own national security, thinking America always had their back.  Asking them to step up now and contribute more to the alliance is reasonable, but it should be done in respectful negotiations, not by lining up our allies and lambasting them in public. That was cringe-worthy.

We have many serious issues that need attention requiring a top notch team.  So who does President Trump choose to be on his team?  Gen. James Mattis at Defense....OK, he got that one right.  And Rex Tillerson at State....I must say he's doing much better than I expected (although reports are he's about ready to throw in the towel.)  But the rest of them aren't worth shooting.  Steve Mnuchin at Treasury?  Remember the big economic meltdown back in 2008?  Then we had a team of outstanding economic minds who, together, pulled us through.  Mnuchin was one of those who got us INTO that mess, and certainly not one who has the credentials to get us out of the next one.  God help us!   

Beauregard Sessions as AG?   Does anyone think he'll last the year?  And how about Tom Price, the architect of that great healthcare reform plan that enjoys the support of a whopping 17% of the people?  And last but not least, Betsy DeVos, Education Secretary only because her family is a mega-$$$$$ Republican contributor.  Of all the possible excellent talent he had to choose from, President Trump chose these? *sigh*

As I said, conservatives deserve to have their agenda fairly heard and debated, just as liberals do.  But where are today's composed, articulate leaders like Kennedy and Reagan, leaders who were respected if not always agreed with?  Even hardcore Republicans who have been chewing on their tongues for months trying to defend Trump are beginning to turn on him.  He's an embarrassment!

It isn't necessarily the message*, but Trump as the messenger that is threatening to send the Republicans into the political abyss, to join Nancy Pelosi and her Democrats who have already made themselves at home there. 

I feel like we're living one of those movies where both pilots have flatlined and left the plane, and the passengers, to fend for themselves.   You think Air Traffic Control will be able to talk us down?

S

* Well OK, maybe some of it is the message. ;)

Sorry to burst your bubble, but....

"You, go get more lipstick....lots of it.  We'll need to spiff up this pig if we have any hope of pimping it to the American people."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has a dozen or so of his hand picked buddies locked in a back room as I write, trying to put together a new healthcare bill they can ram down our throats before we wake up.  When asked by some in his own party when they could see the bill, and how long they would have to review it before a vote was called, he said "a day".  Geez....what a railroad job!

"But....but....ObamaCare....the Democrats foisted that pile on us back in '10.  They...."  I don't care.  All I care about is now.  "Two wrongs don't make a right", as my mama used to say.  Truth is, they don't even care about healthcare.  Their goal is to gut healthcare so as to save enough money to fund their beloved giant tax cut.  That's it, bottom line.

Anyone who thinks they can put together a plan that will preserve the "pre-existing condition" and "no lifetime cap" provisions that everyone seems to like about ObamaCare, while giving us equal or better coverage, with equal or lower deductibles and co-pays, all for dramatically lower premiums, is delusional!  Nothing is free!

Everyone seems to think you have to either back ObamaCare or a derivative, or the Republican alternative.  That's it....pick one.  Both sides are just tippy-toeing around the fact that any meaningful change will require some seriously major changes, changes likely to step on the toes of some extreeeeemly powerful, wealthy interests who want to prevent that at all costs.  Until they are willing to piss off some of these special interests, nothing will change.  And politicians simply don't piss off those who are pulling their strings.  Never.

S

"We need to come together for the good of the country...."

....said the Republicans and the Democrats.  "So just do exactly what I say and everything will be fine."

We Americans are pretty much evenly split between our preference for liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans.  You'd think our politicians would sit down, haggle some, bang on the table some and swear, then eventually agree to split the difference.  "I'll give some here if you'll give some there."  That's how you get things done.  Doesn't that seem reasonable?

But Nooooooo!  The ultra-conservative (Tea Party) Republicans and the ultra-liberal wing of the Democratic party (do they have a catchy name?) won't give an inch.  "My way or the highway" they say.  If I were to sum up the Republicans with one word or phrase it would be "tax cuts".  They resent spending a penny of their upper-class money on anything the Democrats might want.  And the one word that sums up the Democrats would be "gimme".  They want all kinds of benefits, and want the Republicans to pay for it.  Dream on!  Those two extremes are like oil and water....they're never going to mix.

This leads to pissed off, violent followers who take their guns to baseball fields and try to kill Republicans.  It might just as easily be disgruntled hotheads who tried to kill Democrats at     fill in the place__. 

Listen up you knuckleheads....work it out!  Democrats:  $15 an hour for unskilled labor can't be justified.  If you want to make $15-$20 an hour you need a skill.  Republicans:  Agree to fund apprenticeships and trade schools so the unskilled can learn and work and pay taxes. 

Republicans:  Lack of healthcare is killing people, mainly poor people whose employers seldom offer benefits.  Your proposed healthcare replacement plan is, to use Prez Trump's word, "mean".  Show a little heart.  You want to round up all the "undocumented workers" and send them somewhere, anywhere else but here.  But we need their labor!  Find a way to bring them into the system where they can raise their kids without fear, work, and pay taxes.  Democrats:  Work together to devise a plan that guarantees "registration" will NOT be the first step to deportation as so many fear.  Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Democrats:  More gun control laws won't work any better than the old gun control laws.  Face facts. Republicans:  Grow some balls....quit cowering to the NRA.  You can work with Democrats to get help for the mentally ill who are too often the ones who get hold of guns and go on killing sprees.  Spending some money on mental health care now will pay dividends later.  And both of you should surely be able to agree to get guns out of the hands of known felons who are prohibited from having them in the first place.  Our laws have no teeth!  Fix it.

See, it isn't that hard.  Compromise.  Neither will get everything they want, but no one will feel like they were kicked to the curb, either.  Politicians got us into this mess, and they can get us out of it, too.  Let's try pragmatism for a change, because God knows extreme ideologies have done us more harm than good.

S

THE REPUBLICANS ARE COMING! THE REPUBLICANS ARE COMING!

I have all my adult life consciously fought to keep myself from be pigeonholed as a Democrat or a Republican.  In general I think of myself as being just a bit right of center, but certainly no ideologue.  On some subjects I'm a bit left leaning, on others a bit right leaning.  It just seemed smart for me to keep my options open, and to not just obediently fall in line with the ideology of either party.  My independence kept my bullshit detection meter sharp.

Until recently it seemed to me both parties worked hard to front populist agendas, while behind the scenes they had entirely different and not quite so pure motives.  "Vote for us....we understand how difficult life can be for middle-class Americans, and we're committed to blah, blah, blah."  However, now that the Republicans have won control of the House and the Senate and the White House, they seem to have decided to just go for broke.  One big roll of the dice.  They have stepped out from behind their curtain and just put it all on the table.  Their entire reason for being can be boiled down to just two words:

TAX CUTS

Everything Republicans talk about today, from a "border wall" to a "travel ban" to "healthcare reform" is just to disguise what they really want.  The entire reason they so want to "Repeal and Replace Obamacare" is to free up a TRILLION dollars and pass it back to a select few of their special interests via TAX CUTS.  They don't give a damn about better healthcare choices for the people.  If they did they wouldn't have taken a bad system and replaced it with something worse.  Likewise, their desire to "reform Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security" is just code for "gut it and fatten up our TAX CUT" by, oh, I dunno, maybe ANOTHER TRILLION dollars.  Gut education, gut environmental protection, gut the State Department....Cha Ching!

And if anyone gets in their way, Heaven help 'em.  If the Democratic minority makes waves, cut 'em off at the knees!  Pull the trigger on the Nuclear Option that now suspends ALL Senate filibusters.  If someone threatens their Executive puppet who will ultimately sign their TAX CUT legislation, such as the FBI Director (who is currently investigating said Executive puppet), fire him!  Just whack him!  Will anyone else dare to speak up against them?  If they do will they just disappear in the night like an Argentinian dissident?

In fairness, the Democratic Party has had their turn wielding the political sledgehammer, too, but at their worst they never just ripped off their "smiley face" masks and started blatantly raping and pillaging like the Republicans are doing today.  They at least gave us a kiss while they were bending us over.  

IMO we're at a serious Constitutional crossroad in our history.  We've been hoodwinked, and I think it's becoming more obvious by the day.  Will enough of our elected officials, of both parties, join together and recognize for once that they work for US and not just a few special interests, or will we someday soon have to take matters more forcefully into our own hands? 

S

But Your Honor, I'm blind, and my VEEP doesn't speak English. I mean...er...Me Blindo y

I'm sure you've heard of the Fifth Amendment which guarantees citizens the right to NOT have give self-incriminating testimony.  If asked a question in court they can avoid answering by "pleading the Fifth".  This doesn't mean they're either guilty or not guilty, but just that they're not going to answer the question.  

Our American system of justice says everyone is (theoretically) considered innocent until proven guilty.  However, when a person pleads the Fifth over and over and over and....the average listener begins to think the person pleading it is indeed guilty.  The perception says "guilty" even if the evidence doesn't, and it's a hard perception to overcome.

That's essentially where President Donnie John Trump is today.  Every time he or one of his surrogates opens his mouth, smoke comes billowing out.  They say, "look over there" and "nobody's ever proven anything" and "I never said that", even when there's video of them saying that.  No fire has yet been seen, but now the perception is he's guilty.  He's to the point now that a vast majority of people think he's lying, even if he isn't.  

So what's up with RussiaGate?   I won't go in to all the suspicious things that link the Trump campaign / administration and many of his advisers to Russia, but they're all over the news if you wish to look them up. Virtually everyone above the level of the White House mail room kid is under investigation by the FBI.

You've heard the old saying, "If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging", right?  So why does the Trump administration keep digging?  If they're truly as pure as the driven snow like they say they are, why don't they stop in place, open up all their dealings, and prove it?  And if there IS a rotten apple in the barrel, then get them out NOW!  They could turn a negative into a positive.  What's the point of keeping the smoke screen machine running flat out if all is well? 

Yet the Republicans in Congress give him almost universal lip support.  Virtually no thinking person buys hook, line, and sinker everything President Trump and his surrogates say, but the Republican's, with only a few defectors, will admit nothing is even at all suspicious.  They'll go out of their way to give him cover.  Is that smart?

If I was a congressman (R) *shudder* I think this would be a good time to go on a foreign junket.  Seems to me it's just a matter of time before the next Woodward and Bernstein (look 'em up kids) hooks up with the right whistleblower and the Shit Hits The Fan.  Or if there is nothing to blow a whistle about, that will come out, too.  But playing it safe, just in case the fan does start flinging poo, I wouldn't want to be known as part of Trump's regular golf foursome.  

If the SHTF there would be a lot of panicked rats trying to escape the sinking SS Trump.  Politics baffles me.  How can people that smart be so stupid?

S

Wha...what? Flying pigs?...Icicles in Hell?...

Stubborn as hell and it never forgets.

Do you understand what's happening with this on again / off again healthcare bill about to come to a vote in Congress?  I think I have it figured out.  Here's my take:

The Red State congressional parasites have promised their constituents a Trillion Dollar tax cut, cause, you know, their folks need more $$$.  The first step to doing that is to trash ObamaCare.

The Blue State congressional parasites have promised their constituents more healthcare benefits with ideally even bigger subsidies.  They don't care what it costs because their constituents by-and-large won't be the ones paying for it.

Right now ALL House of Representatives Democrats (the Blues) will vote "no" because it cuts too deep, and many Republican Tea Party-types (the Reds) will vote "no" because it doesn't cut deeply enough.  Talk about strange bedfellows!  The bill is expected to fail.  But if by some miracle it passes, what then?

Then it's on to the Senate, where it's even less likely to pass, for the same reasons mentioned above.  The Republicans want their tax cut, dammit!  There are yachts that need buying!  They don't care who they have to whack to get it.  The Democrats just want their blank check.  Stalemate.

So what if the few moderate Democrats along with the few moderate Republicans sat down together and agreed to strengthen the good points of the ACA, aka ObamaCare, toss out the parts of the ACA that smell, and try to keep the expenses fairly neutral....no blank check for the Dems, and no 1% welfare check for the GOP?  The fringes of both parties could just go to their respective corners and throw their little tantrums.

And to get President Trump to sign it, they can call it "DonnieJohnCare".  He'll love it!  He'll think it's FANTASTIC, just TERRIFIC!  What do ya think?

S

Go do WHAT to myself? HOW DARE YOU!

So the Tea Party wants a new healthcare plan, and they seem to be pinning their entire case on allowing insurance companies to do business across state lines.  Right now, to my knowledge, each state has its own Dept. of Insurance that regulates the companies doing business there.  Fifty states, 50 Departments of Insurance.  

It's common for one or two health insurers in each state to control 50, 60, even 80% of the market.  The GOPers (Gophers?  *snicker*) think removing the state-to-state barrier will open up the market to much more competition, bringing rates down.  What I want to know is, why didn't we do this years ago?  Who is opposed to more competition?  Oops....I think I just answered my own question.  I can only think of two groups who would object:  The various State Departments of Insurance, and the insurance companies.  

Bureaucrats by definition like bureaucracy.  They just loooove to have more forms, more rules, more audits, and more papers to shuffle from "in" to "out".  It's their job security.  And the Chairman at each State Dept. of Insurance sees his department as his personal fiefdom.  The more people he's over, the larger his department, the more prestige he enjoys, and the larger the salary he can justify asking for.  There's obstacle #1.

And the health insurers no doubt just loooove it when they can have a HUGE market share in a state.  They can say "jump", and the doctors, hospitals, etc have no choice but to answer, "how high?"  When the insurers hold all the cards, they can control the game.  They can decide what is and isn't covered, how much they will pay for each procedure, etc, and the doctors and hospitals have little choice but to fall in line.  There's obstacle #2.

So if it's a good idea, why must we associate this increased "open market" ONLY with the new Tea Party/Ryan/Trump plan?  Why couldn't it apply to a new, improved ACA 2.0, or ScottCare, or whatever?  Why can't the Democrats and Republicans band together (for once) and just slap the ever-lovin' crap out of the (state insurance) bureaucrats and the insurance companies?  The bureaucrats can clean out their desks and go home, and the insurance companies can be told,  "NO MORE!  This is how it's gonna be from now on.  Y'all get lean, learn the definition of "customer service", and never forget....YOU work for US!  We have choices!"

Is there anyone else who has a motive to keep the system we have now?  Am I missing anything?

Like I've always said....no one has a monopoly on good ideas.  Open the market to more competition and let's see what happens, even if the Tea Party/Ryan/Trump plan dies en route.

S

So is it the message, or the messenger?

There seems to be a disconnect in America today between what some of our politicians are saying and how they are saying it.  I think in many cases the ideas they espouse might be acceptable to many of us, but for one reason or another it's the person conveying the message that is unacceptable.  Example: 

President Donald Trump is reviled by many because of his caustic, misogynistic style.  In general, though, his ideas of securing our borders, renegotiating our many trade agreements, working overtime to keep our companies here vs closing shop and moving overseas, etc, are not out of line with what most Americans want.  I think Trump was elected President in spite of himself, not because of himself.  He keeps saying, to borrow from Muhammad Ali, "I am the greatest!" when in fact 60% of us can't stand the guy.

Likewise, Bernie Sanders seemed to gain traction when he talked about health care for all, free college education, an end to corporate manipulation of our political process, out-of-control banks, etc.  To many these concepts, or maybe slightly scaled back versions of these concepts, had great appeal.  But when they heard it coming from an old school, firebrand, avowed socialist democrat, with the key word being SOCIALIST, they walked away.

I personally feel all these ideas have merit.  Our borders need to be secure, of course.  A literal $15Billion wall might be ill conceived, but aggressive patrolling, high-tech security measures, etc, are reasonable.  

In-depth vetting of refugees and immigrants is not unreasonable, especially those from dysfunctional, violent countries, which today by default usually means Mid-East countries who are majority Muslim.  The key is them being scrutinized because they are from dysfunctional, violent countries, not because they are Muslim.

Why are we giving tax subsidies (write-offs) to companies to help them offset their costs of laying off American workers and moving overseas?  If they want to move, let 'em, but the costs of their move, including the retraining of their laid-off workers etc, should be paid by them, and not just dumped off on the American taxpayers.

Our trade agreements today are heavily skewed in favor of everyone in those agreements except the US.  I don't think we need any preferential treatment, but the playing field does need to be leveled.

A highly educated and healthy workforce is essential to our security and prosperity.  Funding these goals, even if they mean higher taxes, would be in our NATIONAL INTEREST.  We shouldn't pick and choose who we want to be healthy and who we want to keep sickly.  A vibrant economy needs everyone to be healthy and contributing to the maximum.  

And we need workers equipped with today's skills, not with yesterday's high school level rudimentary skills.   We should properly subsidize education to keep pace with the 21st Century, especially in certain critical disciplines.

Corporations, especially banks, will by their nature look out first and foremost for their best interests, screw the rest of us.  They are too nearsighted to realize their greed will eventually "kill the goose that laid the golden egg."  Corporate manipulation of our political system by their PAC's and campaign contributions should be forbidden. 

So you see, many of the ideas that came from both Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders are IMO not out of line with what most Americans are thinking.  We just need to have them presented by candidates who come with less negative baggage.

S 

That's right you a-holes...DOUBLE SECRET PROBATION!

No, wait....that was the movie Animal House.  Yesterday's big news was from the WHITE House.

It seems that yesterday Prez Trump's National Security Adviser Michael Flynn got ahold of a microphone and said that Iran's recent ballistic missile test violated our nuclear agreement of last year, and that we were putting them ON NOTICE!

Fear and panic in Tehran!

Ummm....what exactly does "on notice" mean, anyway?  Is that like when the big kid on the playground backs a little kid into a corner demanding his lunch money, or more like when the Allied powers in WWII told Adolf Hitler they were going to kick his ass?  Big difference!

Kinda makes you wonder....well, me at least....if this was just another of President Donald Trump's knee jerk reactions to something he didn't like.  I would hope that if he approved of putting someone "on notice" he would have thought it through carefully, discussed it with the Defense Dept, State Dept, the CIA (if they'll take his call), our allies (if we have any left), etc, and put together a realistic, tiered plan of action.

Then he should have sent word via diplomatic channels to the Iranians, explaining that we expect them to abide by all the terms of our agreement, no exceptions, and lay out what will happen if they don't.  But that doesn't appear to be what happened.  The Iranians light off a missile one day, and Trump sent Flynn in front of a hot mic the next to threaten them.  

I'm no diplomat or military guy, but I have to wonder if either State or Defense can put together a detailed plan of action like that in just one day?  I agree that we need to call the Iranian's hand on this treaty violation, but there's a right way and a wrong way to do it.  He can still pursue his agenda without leaving a trail of wreckage behind.

America's new Fire Chief...er...Secretary of State (as of last night) Rex Tillerson, has his hands full delivering flowers to many of our decades-long allies who his Arsonist-In-Chief boss has already torched in just his first two weeks in office.  IMO the Republican Party needs to assign a minder to make sure President Trump takes his daily meds.
  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And how about those buffoons in Congress?

2016....Senate Democrats are outraged....OUTRAGED!....when Republicans won't vote and confirm President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court.  "Republicans are despicable scum!"

2017....Senate Republicans are outraged....OUTRAGED!....when Democrats threaten to sabotage President Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court.  "Democrats are despicable scum!"

How can they, Democrats and Republicans alike, look us in the eye and lie like they do?  If we look up, that thing we're seeing is the underside of the bus both parties have thrown us under.

S

LATE EDIT:  Could "On Notice" be Prez Trump's green light code for the Israeli's to go get 'em?  Heehee....hold my beer!