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Oh my goodness. They couldn’t. They wouldn’t.
Well, maybe they would. Those Republican f*ckers Graham and Cassidy are setting their sights on the ACA, and this time they’re really trying to remove it completely. Who actually wants this to happen – the 200 people who came to the “Less is M.O.A.R” rally?
“This bill is far more radical [than previous repeal bills] in that it envisions going back to the pre-ACA world, where the federal government wasn’t in the business of helping low-income adults or moderate-income people without employer coverage get health insurance at all,” Aviva Aron-Dine, senior fellow at the center, told HuffPost. “Compared to pre-ACA, there would be some extra state grant money floating around ― but it would have virtually no requirements attached to it at all and, since the funding wouldn’t adjust based on enrollment or costs, it would be hard for even well-intentioned states to use it to create an individual entitlement to coverage or help.”
Oh, and the bill would repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, and do so right away ― destabilizing insurance markets and causing premiums to rise right away, according to official projections [bolding mine].
Even though the actual defunding doesn’t start till 2020, the negative impacts will start immediately. Because, GOOPers are in charge and neener neener, they like screwing over poor people just for sh*ts and giggles.
Does this craptastic mess really have a chance to pass? No one is sure. After all, I don’t see why Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins would budge from their previous positions, and Rand Paul, who won’t be satisfied until the only entities collecting government aid are corporations, has also said he feels it’s Obamacare Lite. Um, sure, Rand. Maybe there’s a brain somewhere underneath that Brillo pad you call a hairstyle, although so far I’ve seen no evidence thereof. But you just go on with your crayzee self and help us prevent a massive humanitarian disaster for all the wrong reasons, mmmmkay?
I think we still need to call, write, tweet, and go to town halls. We must make absolutely sure the GOP knows we will NOT accept the removal of health care from tens of millions of people. If you need to find a town hall near you, here’s a nifty site that will help.
Oh – and if you haven’t seen this, it’s reason #1,875,643 to institute the 25th Amendment. Is this hideous creature really our President? Good f*cking Christ.
This is an open thread.
Good Monday, all. I seem to be posting on all the important occasions lately! Today, of course, is the 16th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11th, which changed our country forever…and not in a good way.
Since that awful day, a massive rightwing ratf*cking has been perpetrated against the American people. The first illegitimate Republican Presnit, George W. Bush, used the fear and rage universally felt on 9/11 to run rampant over the Constitution, lie us into two unwinnable wars in the Middle East, and tilt the balance of the Supreme Court to the hard right for the foreseeable future. This opened the door to everything Drumpf has taken advantage of; from Citizens United (which, lest we forget, originated as a lawsuit against Hillary Clinton), which sent a flood of dark money into the political process. Focused and malevolent billionaires, like the Mercers and the Koch Brothers, set about facilitating the buying of Congresscritters, the growth of the conservative media, and the rigging of elections through gerrymandering, dodgy touch-screen voting machines and removal of Democratic voters from rolls. All through this long dark time, we also saw Bush massively screw up foreign policy, and tank the economy and the federal budget by cutting taxes during war, which no POTUS had ever done. Under Bush, the gap between rich and poor, steadily growing since the 1980s, began to increase exponentially.
Along with many other Americans, I often find myself tempted to think that Bush was better than Drumpf…but is that really the case? In hindsight, wasn’t Dubya more of a template, a trial run, for the carnival barker we didn’t elect – an entitled billionaire who was sold by the media as more of a “man of the people” than the very qualified and intelligent, non-billionaire Democrat running against him? And didn’t the media crucify Gore for idiotic transgressions, like sighing during a debate and “wearing earth tones” – just as they crucified Hillary for her femaleness, her “cackle” and her g*ddamn private email server?
If we look a little deeper, there is a real through line between Bush and our current pResident For example, isn’t it interesting that David Bossie, the former President of Citizens United, now works for the Mango Meerkat? And that the Kochs and Mercers stand solidly behind him? I remember that so very much of what Dubya did was “unprecedented” as well…like, for example, “winning” the election even though the popular vote went against him, and basically being appointed by fiat of the Supreme Court, in a decision that could NOT be used as a basis for legal action in any other situation!
Hell, Dubya even legitimized the Republican love affair with dearest Pooty-Poot. As the Cowboy from Connecticut said in 2001:
“I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul; a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country.”
Ewwwwww!
While many of these issues were boiling under the surface before September The Eleventh, Two Thousand and One, George W. Bush knew he “hit the trifecta” on that horrible day. He was free to ratf*ck as he saw fit, and he began to loosen the norms of Presidential behavior and economic good practice immediately.
The United States has never recovered from his tenure in office. Our peace, prosperity and safety evaporated with Bill Clinton’s departure, and despite the past 8 years of Obama, have never returned.
Let’s hope we’ve learned our lessons from 2001. We thought Bush was the Worst President Ever, but in just a few months, we’ve seen that in Der Drumpfenfuhrer, the Republicans had an even worse ratf*cker up their sleeves. Let’s keep our eyes open, our feet on the streets, and our Congresscritters on speed-dial. And hey, should the Tangerine Turd make it to 2020, we’ve got lots of options, as the guy in the video below notes.
This is an open thread.
Good Monday, all. It’s Labor Day today, and you know what? We’ve all been working very hard, and we deserve a day off from the endless parade of bad news on the teevee and Twitter machine. The floodwaters are receding in Houston; the Resistance is huge, strong and shows no signs of losing steam; and as Annie mentioned yesterday, the DNC is hearing loudly and strongly that Bernie Sanders and his He-Man Woman-Hater’s Club are on the wrongest of the wrong tracks with the real base of the Party. Even more exciting, Our Girl’s book is out soon! I can’t wait to read it.
So today’s action? Relax. For those of us in regular-type jobs, we’re benefiting from this holiday, established in 1894 by President Grover Cleveland after the Pullman strike in Chicago. It’s really nice weather in Noo Yawk, so we’ll be grilling and chilling.
With our Prolix taking some time off (miss you Prolix!), and Fredster heroically standing in (GO FREDSTER!), we haven’t had a musical thread in a bit. So here are some picks that should put you in a more mellow mood. I want to especially shout out to the magnificent Walter Becker of Steely Dan, who passed away yesterday. RIP, Walter. Let’s hope they have guitars, basses and irony in Heaven.
This is an open thread.
- In: Congress | Open Thread
- 72 Comments
Good Monday, all. I want to send warm Widdershin hugs, thoughts and prayers to everyone who is living through the effects of Hurricane Harvey. I am not sure I can really add much in the way of coverage or links, or even original thoughts…but I did see this on Google and thought you might be interested.
Check out the Disaster Philanthropy Organization, a non-profit that directs donations to the greatest effect. It’s in partnership with Google – you can donate there too. http://disasterphilanthropy.org/who-we-are/google/
And now, to the man-made disaster we now face every day. I am referring, of course, to The Orange Crusher himself, Der Drumpfenfuhrer.
The fallout continues from his disastrous reaction to the Charlottesville terrorist attack by American Nazis. And he keeps compounding and doubling down on his obvious racism, misogyny and irrational hatred of LGBT. His latest horrific decision was to pardon a creature of extraordinary, retrograde evil, “Sheriff Joe” Arpaio. When you read even a fraction of what this inbred animal got away with for decades in Arizona, it’s hard to even comprehend what must be in his heart and mind…the blackness and self-loathing that infects him must be all-consuming.
And the Republicans are starting to run away faster and faster; trial balloons are starting to float about the 25th Amendment.
I will say this: I believe very strongly that Drumpf will exit by the end of the year. He has started to prepare for his resignation. Do you really think that Steve Bannon and Seb Gorka left because of General Kelly? Come on now. They should have left months ago. They left to prepare Trump TV. If you read Gorka’s resignation letter, he made exactly the argument our terribly unpopular Preznit will soon make.
“It is clear to me that forces that do not support the MAGA promise are—for now—ascendant within the White House,” Gorka wrote. “As a result, the best and most effective way I can support you, Mr. President, is from outside the People’s House.”
In other words:
“I tried to MAGA, but Congress/The Fake Media/Hillary/Librulz wouldn’t let me! I can do much better as an advocate for your voice. Come watch me on Trump TV, and it’s only $49.99 a year!”
With this option, he’s completely covered no matter what, you see. He’s been setting it up for a very long time, even before the election when he complained it was rigged. (It was rigged – in his favor.) If he gets impeached or removed via the 25th Amendment, there are still going to be freaks who want to see Trump be Trump, and will pay through the nose to do so.
So there’s not much we can do about this for now except show up and try to help Democrats re-take Congress in 2018, because Pence, although he sounds much more sane than Drumpf, is both dirty AND insanely conservative. With a Democratic Congress, we have the ability to stop the insanity and turn it around.
I know a lot of us are already doing quite a bit of activism to help hurry this outcome along. Today, I have one thing in particular to highlight. Our friend Janicen, who has largely left blogging for live action (GO Janicen!!), reached out to me to ask if I wanted to attend an upcoming event in Brooklyn, and whether I would publicize it. It’s to raise money to support Virginian Democratic candidates. I figured some Widdershins might want to join, so if you want to learn more, please click here for more information.
In the meantime, hang in there, everyone. It’s always darkest before the dawn.
This is an open thread.
- In: 2016 Election | Civil Rights | Donald Trump | Feminism | Hillary Clinton | Human Rights | misogyny | Open Thread
- 57 Comments
Good Monday, all. Today, the sun will be completely eclipsed by the moon, a very rare event indeed. Even rarer, it seems, is what has been going on since the horrible terrorist attack in Charlottesville: people are starting to talk about the real reason people voted for Drumpf, the true secret of his appeal.
Two years too late.
Roxane Gay wrote this painful editorial in the New York Times last week. I think she speaks for a lot of us, not just here at TW, but all over America.
A week ago, in Charlottesville, Virginia, white men assembled to rage for a world long lost – one where their mediocrity was good enough. These were men emboldened by a President who shares their odious beliefs.
I’ve watched in horror as they’ve been energized by his campaign and his presidency. It’s possible that hate like this would have been on the rise anyway, given eight years of the Obama presidency and, animus towards Hillary Clinton. But now we don’t have hate on the fringe; we have it reinforced in the White House…
…Back in November, pundits began attributing Mr. Trump’s win to “economic anxiety,” because they were unwilling to face the blatant racism that fueled his popularity. Look where that thinking has brought us. Everyone who says, “This is not America” or “This is not us” is being willfully ignorant of both the past and the present. We all need to acknowledge that yes, this is indeed us, the very worst of us…
Roxane’s eloquent anguish resonates so strongly with me. When that evil orange turd “won” the election, I felt as though the entire country had lost its mind. Instead of electing the first woman President, who would lead us where we need to go so badly, Drumpf voters had embraced a sexually twisted, misogynistic, racist monster because they didn’t care what he would do to this country, as long as he made them feel good about themselves. His language of hate and fear was like poisoned music, a siren’s song telling them that at last, at last, they could blame someone else for their useless and bitter lives. Drumpf made it clear to white men that it really IS women and people of color and Jews and LGBT who are responsible for your pain and suffering, and not only that, it’s good and right for you to think it, and say it, and shout it out loud. Who could resist such a validation? And as a result, instead of the world we all knew would arise with Hillary’s Presidency, a world where #LoveTrumpsHate, a new, awful world seemed to arise.
But was it really that new? No. It had only been hiding, lurking like a tumor, inside of the Republican base. And it’s at the heart of all of their policies, for the past few decades. As Russ Feingold wrote this weekend,
The lesson from Charlottesville is not how dangerous the neo-Nazis are. It is the unmasking of the Republican party leadership. In the wake of last weekend’s horror and tragedy, let us finally, finally rip off the veneer that Trump’s affinity for white supremacy is distinct from the Republican agenda of voter suppression, renewed mass incarceration and the expulsion of immigrants…
Words mean nothing if the Republican agenda doesn’t change. Governors and state legislatures were so quick to embrace people of color in order to avoid the impression, they too share Trump’s supreme affinity for the white race. But if they don’t stand up for them they are not indirectly, but directly enabling the agenda of those same racists that Republican members were so quick to condemn via Twitter.
Gerrymandering, strict voter ID laws, felon disenfranchisement are all aimed at one outcome: a voting class that is predominantly white, and in turn majority Republican.
This is the hard truth that we don’t want to face. We all have Republican friends, relatives and colleagues. We’d like to think that they vote Republican because they want lower taxes and “small government,” whatever the hell that means. Unfortunately, though, those reasons can no longer be used to mask the hatred that hides in the heart of the GOP. It’s become a heart of darkness, and anyone who votes Republican now, shows that they have darkness in their hearts as well.
As Drumpf retreats further and further from a country whose people are loudly protesting what he stands for, vastly outnumbering the Neo-Nazis in Boston by tens of thousands, there is beginning to be a wide recognition that he cannot last much longer as President of the United States. But when he goes, and takes all the nightmare Cabinet members and Javanka with him, and probably takes Pence down too..what then? Are we going to pretend he never happened, that he was a terrible aberration, and that the “real” Republicans never wanted him in the first place?
I am quite sure the media, addicted to equivalency as they are, will try to smooth this horrorshow over and make it seem as though the Republican Party temporarily lost its mind to der Drumpfenfuhrer, but is now sane. We cannot let them do it. We must continue to hold them responsible and accountable for what they’ve done to our democratic institutions and the mental and moral health of our country.
We’ve done really well after a blow that could have crushed us, Widdershins. Together, the Resistance has halted the destruction of ACA, the tax cuts for the wealthy and the infrastructure whatever that, I’m sure, would have done nothing but shovel more money into billionaires’ pockets. But we won’t be finished until we have dragged the racists and misogynists, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century.
I think we can do it, don’t you?
This is an open thread. Enjoy the “oldie” but goodie below.
Hello Widdershins, and a very good Tuesday to all of you. Today I want to make a statement about women and the Democratic Party.
We’re reclaiming our time.
Maxine Waters Doesn’t Take Your Crap, Bro
As we know, the “election” of Drumpf was a devastating blow to those of us who knew, just knew, that this time we’d get the President we wanted and deserved. Obama set off red flags in 2008 with his sexism and lack of qualifications, and we hated the obvious push to hand him the nomination by rigging the DNC rules to favor caucuses. So we declared “Party Unity My *ss,” and the Obots swarmed and won. In 2016, when it should have been obvious that Hillary would run unopposed, that narcissistic, lazy sh*thead Bernie Sanders decided to start a Party of One…and the Obots swarmed, newly reborn as Bernie Bros/brogressives. This time, they lost, and lost YUGE. It was surely, finally time for Hillary!
But it wasn’t. Bernie had done a lot of damage to her reputation, and that, along with so many other factors, doomed her to lose once again. And as if that weren’t enough, the Democratic Party is still cosseting and kowtowing to the man who lost the primary by 4 million votes, AND who will not even show the most basic respect of declaring himself a Democrat. His followers are primarying Democratic candidates instead of supporting them, and creating ridiculous smear campaigns against any Democrat who doesn’t fit the Bernie mold. You know what that means: white, male, sexist and self-righteous.
Look what they’re doing to Kamala Harris, whose voting record is the second most progressive in the Senate. (Bernie is not even in the top 10. Surprise!)
Cosmopolitan goes so far as to say, “Leave Kamala Harris Alone,” pointing out in no uncertain terms:
Kamala Harris doesn’t have a Bernie Sanders problem. The so-called “Sanders Left” has a black-woman problem. In fact, the entire left has a black-woman problem. On May 25, a group of black women wrote an open letter to DNC Chairman Tom Perez requesting that he meet with black women politicians and policy makers. The letter noted that the 115th Congress has “20 Black women—the largest number in history” and reminded Perez that in 2008 and 2012, black women were the party’s most loyal voting bloc. The DNC refused to even give black women an official response to the letter. I say this, because I want to be clear that the DNC is no friend to black women. However, if 2016 is any indicator, the vast majority of black women rejected the Sanders solution as a model for the kind of left politics that meets their needs.
Let me be clear: Bernie Sanders and his sexist brogressives will NEVER stop demonizing women, no matter what color they are. Look what venerated feminist blogger Melissa McEwan of Shakesville posted today. Everyone knows she is a progressive – but OMG she supported Hillary!!!11111!!! so she must NOT BE!
“Sanders Democrats” don’t own the left.
For thirteen years, I’ve been occupying this space, advocating for progressive policy and social justice. I support universal healthcare and a basic guaranteed income. I am pro-choice, anti-death penalty, a prison abolitionist, and advocate for vast criminal justice reform. I strongly reject privatization schemes and strongly support free public education. I am an intersectional feminist; an anti-racist; a fierce defender of LGBTQ rights; an advocate for dismantling the rape culture; a disabled survivor; a fat activist; a Democratic critic and a Democratic supporter.
Those are not conservative positions. They are not even centrist positions.
They are leftist positions.
And I have spent the last thirteen years of my life being mercilessly inundated with gross harassment for taking those positions.
RECLAIM YOUR TIME, MELISSA!!! What the hell have the Keyboard Kommandoes of Bernie’s non-existent ‘revolution’ sacrificed for their position? How dare they abuse and disdain women who have been working for many years for liberal causes, just because they favored Hillary over #TheBernout?
So now, finally, more and more women are getting it. The Democrats won’t give us our time unless we stand up and demand it. Women must have a voice in the Democratic Party, and we want candidates that represent us. This means, tell ENORMOUS LOSER Bernie Sanders to go sit in a corner and rename a post office. That’s all he’s ever been good for.
And for us, let’s find a group to join and start promoting and registering women in the Democratic Party. There are a lot of them out there, including Hillary’s PAC. I joined this one on Monday.
Hey, DNC: We’re no longer asking. We’re telling.
This is an open thread.
Good Monday, all. Today is the first day of the last few months of Donald Trump’s Presidency. After all, he’s brought in a general to be his Chief of Staff, same as Nixon, and the conservo-rats are deserting his sinking ship. As the spectacular failure of the Wealth Transfer Bill made clear, the Senate can defy the Rancid Cheeto without any real consequences…and, the Rancid Cheeto is going to be no help to their agenda whatsoever. What will happen now? I don’t know, but while we wait for the next giant flameout, I thought we could spend some time connecting the dots.
The ongoing fight between the Bernie and Hillary wings of the Party is not about re-living the primaries, despite what the Bernie Bots would say on Twitter. It’s about looking to the future and figuring out the way forward for the Democrats. It IS important to have both the message, and the messaging, correct, so people know they’re not just voting against something, but FOR a positive vision of America.
In order to make this happen, we have to make sure that all Americans understand the connection between a racist, sexist and xenophobic campaign, and a country going in the wrong direction. From the Bernie cultists, and unfortunately from some members of the DNC, we hear that we need to appeal to the white working-class male voter with a strong economic message. The problem with this is, that it’s no different from the Republican approach.
Yes, you heard me right.
Make America Great Again is a white-people-only slogan, based on bringing the Fake 50s back to the US – a decade of great prosperity and segregation. Coal jobs, union jobs, they would be coming back under him – and all those “bad hombres” who have been taking those jobs away would be sent back to Mexico. He added to his racist cred by announcing that Mexicans are rapists, outing himself as a sexual predator, and being endorsed by white supremacists and having Steve Bannon as his senior campaign adviser. White people claimed they didn’t care, because all of these “identity politics” didn’t matter. But “identity politics” were really what energized all those white people to come out and vote for him. Nothing else mattered so much as race to the Trump voter.
And what happened when Drumpf came into office? He started advocating for policies to do exactly what he promised. Mass deportations. Known racist Jeff Sessions at the helm of the Justice department. True to his misogynistic ways, pushes to defund Planned Parenthood. Trying to overturn the freedoms and rights Obama granted to LGBTQ. And all his promises about bringing coal jobs back? Yeah, not so much.
What would happen if Democrats really decided to chase the white male vote, and decried “identity politics” as unimportant? What message are they sending to everyone who isn’t white and male, who, not so coincidentally, votes Democratic? With all of these white men jockeying to run for the Presidency, two of them in their 70s, I find it very hard to believe that they will prioritize any of the things that matter to me…just as Barack Obama, who ran on misogyny, didn’t prioritize gender equality.
What we project matters. What we say matters. And visuals, they matter. And I am personally so very, very tired and sick of hearing and seeing “f*ck you” from the Democratic Party, a Party still, shamefully, disproportionately white and male. This is why Bernie Sanders held absolutely no appeal to me. He and his followers routinely dismissed the things I cared about, and mansplained that we were all too dumb to understand #TheBernout’s greatness and vast superiority over HRC. And of course, if we protested, we were playing “identity politics.” Well, yes. We want an equal seat at the table, and we’re tired of asking nicely.
So the Resistance you’re counting on to save your sorry butts and stop the evil Republican agenda, and vote for you in 2018? We’re women. And you won’t ignore us any more.
We’re awake now, and we’re paying attention.
This is an open thread.
Dump Trump
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