Anniversaries: A Long Time Ago In a Clearwater Bijou Far Far Away...

I kinda blogged about my geeking over Star Wars often here, but I blog elsewhere and on that site I went into more detail about how and when I fell in love with a movie:

Somewhere in my mind there is a seven year old boy sitting in a large rocking chair in a movie theater called a Bijou in downtown Clearwater Florida.

It's late summer, just before school. Having taken care of a big event in our family's lives - moving into a new home - the parents relent and take their three youthful boys to see this movie everyone's been gabbing about called Star Wars. The lads are familiar with some elements of science fiction - we've seen this thing called Star Trek on the teevee once or twice - but all we knew about the movie was from an ad campaign that showed spaceships blowing up and robots running around...

...It's archetypal, it's nostalgic, it's futuristic, it's action, it's space opera, it's primal emotional satisfaction. When Luke finishes that trench run and the Death Star blows up (oh shush I'm not spoiling a damn thing), the need among everyone in the audience to stand and cheer in victory is universal.

I'm remembering the good times again because today - May 25 - is the 40th anniversary when Star Wars officially came out. It actually got released to a handful of theaters because 20th Century Fox wasn't too sure it would do well and was just dumping it off into a summer season that tended to be quiet for the industry.

And then the whole thing blew up. Word of mouth spread. Kids, teens, and adults all flocked like mad to see a movie with incredible visual effects, impressive Wagnerian musical score by John Williams, and a faithful archetypal story. Millions went back for repeat viewings (home videotape was still years away from reaching the public, and waiting for movies to reach television took years). They released the movie to more theaters across the nation, where the demand overwhelmed the smaller places that hosted one or two (!) screens.

It rewired the entire film industry. Combined with a previous summer blockbuster Jaws, it convinced Hollywood that summertime was when blockbuster spectacles should be released. Special effects action movies dominated the production schedules. Movies were geared for kids and teens as much as possible. Multiplex theaters blossomed to match the demand (and supply as every studio raced to make their own Star Wars franchise hit).

That all didn't matter much to me at the time. It took awhile - the whole summer - to get to see it, but once my family had settled into our new home in Palm Harbor our parents were able to escort us to the theaters to watch it.

I didn't go completely geeky: my parents would indulge a little in the toys and the games, but they didn't buy every bit of merch that spawned around Lucas' empire. But I kept up with it, spread my interest to other SciFi and Fantasy 'Verses, and refreshed my geekery in the comics/graphic novel world as I grew into an adult.

I still hark back to my fanboy foundation, though, as evidenced by my prized lightsaber and showing up at local comic-cons dressed as a Jedi.

Man, forty years.

That Clearwater theater is long gone. Carrie Fisher and Kenny Baker too. But there's another Episode coming out this year, and with luck I'll live long enough to see Episode IX which promises to be the big finale.

The seven year old in me still geeks out.

Go Tell That Long-Tongued Liar

Media manipulator, nation destroyer, obscene form of life Roger Ailes is dead.

I know if you're not able to say anything nice about anybody you shouldn't say anything at all.

But Ailes has many sins to answer for.

Much of the Far Right Noise Machine is his fault. Granted, there were Right Wing pundits for decades. Rush Limbaugh existed years before Fox Not-News did. But what Ailes brought to that whole side of the journalistic spectrum was a foundation and focal point. He gave the Far Right extremists a platform to vent, he hired pundits to corral and promote that extremism, he pitched a safe haven where the Conservative viewpoint could flourish and expand.

There may be the likes of Drudge, and Rush, and Breitbart (his remnant empire), and Coulter, and there are other conservative outlets like National Review and Newsmax. But Fox Not-News made itself the sun around which all others orbit.

He'd been a major player in the media for years, ever since helping Richard Nixon's 1968 campaign. The Selling of the President should be on everyone's reading list: it's where our modern political world got its ugly baptism. And it's where Roger Ailes appeared on the stage.

Ailes' influence reached far. Political campaigns and elected officials knew to bow in his general direction, and cower when he got angry. Rather than report the news, Ailes tilted his channel to focus on the opinion, filling the cable signals with pundit after pundit pushing agendas instead of the facts. Troubling enough, his approach worked: it appealed to the white and male audience Ailes wanted to reach, injecting them with anger and aiming that rage towards the Democrats and Liberal Left.

Where Ailes could not argue with conviction, he pushed with false narratives. His network would offer up half-baked conspiracies, twist reports to accent the negatives, confuse the issues by denying facts. He perfected the act of malicious reporting while avoiding the hazards of Libel and Defamation laws, by skirting the edge of fuzzy journalism to where if anyone fought back they would get attacked for "destroying free speech."

Ailes is the reason why most of our nation's attention towards political and social issues is driven by vitriol.

Ailes is one big reason (out of several) why we have trump in the White House.

There is no pit of hell deep enough for Roger Ailes.

You may throw a rock, hide your hand
Work in the dark against your fellow man
But sure as God has made the day and the night
What you do in the dark will be brought to light

You may run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
You may run home for for a long time
But let me tell you God Almighty's gonna cut you down

Go tell that long-tongued liar
Go tell that midnight rider
Tell the gambler, rambler, backbiter
Tell them God Almighty's gonna cut him down...

-- Written by Willie T. Johnson, Henry L. Jr. Owens, Clyde Riddick, and Orlandus Wilson (with thanks to Johnny Cash for a brilliant cover version)

Above All, A Machiavellian Master Must Be Competent

As of now, nearly every scandal with this trump Administration have been self-inflicted. That is, none of this would be happening if the people in charge - from trump on down to his handlers to their meager overworked staffs - had 1) general competency to do their jobs, 2) a genuine willingness to learn their jobs, 3) respect for the institutional norms that have done this nation well for 200-plus years, 4) basic goddamn common sense that you shouldn't fucking do things that will blow up in your face.

There is no sign that anybody at that White House can plan ten minutes ahead of themselves much less five days, eight weeks, six months, four years. They are bouncing from incident to incident, from mishandled staged events to botched executive orders to disorganized Congressional outreach to outright acts of corruption and illegality.

To quote Stephen Stromberg over at Washington Post:

At the opening of his presidency, Trump’s unforced errors were embarrassing — but, one could argue, at least the botched rollout of his immigration executive order rendered it vulnerable to legal attack, his poor negotiating skills complicated the passage of his slipshod health-care bill and his inattention to detail enabled his surprisingly capable foreign policy staff to limit the damage he could do...

...Now The Post reports that the day after he fired Comey, Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador. U.S. officials apparently obtained the material, which concerned Islamic State plotting, from a foreign ally and did not have permission to share the information with Russia. Though few specific details could be reported, there are a variety of dangerous potential consequences. Not only could the information’s disclosure imperil an intelligence relationship with a helpful government, but it could also reveal a secret intelligence asset to a foreign adversary working at cross purposes to the U.S. and its allies.

Compounding the insult, the accounts in The Post suggest Trump may have revealed the information in order to boast to his foreign visitors about the quality of the intelligence briefings he receives, as if they would not have known that the president of the United States has access to impressive amounts of secret material. The picture is not so much of conspiracy or malevolence, but of unfathomable carelessness...

I am fond of quoting Machiavelli about "Whether it is better to be loved or feared?" In that question, there is an underlying acceptance that the Prince in this scenario be someone competent. Incompetent leaders quickly lose the respect of others, at which point being loved or feared is useless.

Now to David Frum over at The Atlantic:

The president can never be cut out of the information loop altogether. But consider how little information Trump wants in the first place. He is satisfied with single pagers dotted by colorful bullet points. If that is all he uses, maybe it’s better for everybody to hold back information he could possibly misuse?...

It’s understandable why conscientious professionals would take such measures. Yet consider the troubling consequence of that decision. The security aspects of government would slip away from political control—for reasons that might seem necessary in the short run, but could be hard to reverse in the longer term. Donald Trump promised to shake up Washington. And what is being shaken is the trust of those who must carry out his orders. Someone has to be ultimately in charge of the national-security portions of the U.S. government. After this week, it may become a lot harder to identify precisely who that someone is...

It doesn't help that trump is playing this game as one of the most hated "leaders" in modern history, starting off his administration in an Unpopularity hole NO MODERN PRESIDENT ever had. He's already lost a majority of Americans who simply will never accept him.

The only thing keeping trump and his Republican allies in government - many of whom are showing the strain of supporting this clueless shitgibbon at every downturn - afloat is the epistemic bubble of the Far Right Narrative, where 80 percent of the GOP voting base loves trump precisely for the chaos and emotional turmoil he inflicts on all the non-believers outside that bubble.

But the Real World does not exist in that bubble. The Real World respects competency and effectiveness in governments being able to work together to maintain stability.

The Real World has ways of making those incompetent would-be dictator god-emperors doom themselves.

Unfortunately, everybody else has to pay the bills when that doom comes.

We are so very royally fucked.

Added: An additional note or twelve from Jon Finer at The Atlantic:

...Taking a step back, it is increasingly clear that Trump’s wrecking ball approach to the traditional norms of the presidency, praised as “disruptive” by his supporters, is exposing the limitations of a political system ill-equipped to handle someone operating  so recklessly. There may be few legal restrictions on the president related to, for example, disclosing classified information, or ethical breaches, or interfering with a law enforcement investigation into the campaign that brought him to power, but there has always been a basic presumption that a president would operate within certain bounds of good faith.

With a Republican-led Congress so far unwilling to hold the administration to account and few remedies available, short of nuclear options (impeachment or removal under the 25th Amendment), the system is largely left to discipline itself. That isn't working...

...This incident is among the first, or at least most visible, costs of a person with this president's temperament occupying the Oval Office. Yet again, the administration is fighting a five-alarm fire of its own (and, as is often the case, of its president's) making.

It's been said and written frequently, but it bears repeating, that the day will come, sooner than anyone of us wants, when there will be a major external crisis for this administration to address. Anyone who isn't concerned about how that will play out isn't paying much attention.

...yup. Royally fucked.

The Clear And Present Danger That Is trump

Jesus.

President donald trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week, the Washington Post reports, citing current and former U.S. officials who said that trump's disclosures jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State.

If there's any bright news, trump is killing the spy industry. Why should Putin pay anybody to spy for him when all he has to do is call up trump for tea time in the Oval Office?

Remember how the Far Right yelled and screamed about Hillary and her private email server? They pushed about, what, eleven different investigations to find out that she never really revealed classified intel through that server, that she was never a national security risk. Can you imagine her doing something this clueless, this reckless, this blatant a disregard for our own intel? Hillary is Ambitious, yes: Stupid, no.

Why worry about trump's emails? trump will just call over the Russian ambassador and hand all the Daily Briefing folders in person.

Remember Alger Hiss?

Remember the Rosenbergs?

Remember Aldrich Ames?

Remember Robert Hanssen?

You'd better. Every single one of them are currently being outclassed by the biggest leaker of them all.

And 62 million Americans voted this goddamn national security risk into the White House.

Every Republican in Congress is defending this crook in the White House, either by silence or eager proclamation.

We are so very fucked.

WE SHALL RIDE TO TRUMP TOWER SHINY AND CHROME

Thank GOD for Saturday Night Live:

The streets were filled with onlookers:

And the skit did not disappoint:

We're still incredibly f-cked, but at least we're able to mock our tormentors as they demolish the landscape...

Obstruction of Justice

It has its own chapter in the US Code: 18 USC 73.

The relevant matter may be under section 1505:

...Whoever corruptly, or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication influences, obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law under which any pending proceeding is being had before any department or agency of the United States, or the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress—

Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both.

trump is using Comey's firing as both threat and promise of force: anyone who keeps investigating his and his campaign's ties to Russia will lose their jobs.

Obstruction is a serious matter. Just ask Scooter Libby. Just ask Richard Nixon.

trump is openly admitting to it now. His recent interview with Lester Holt revealed he'd wanted to fire Comey for weeks, that he questioned Comey three times about the investigations into the possibility Russia hacked the 2016 election, and that "the Russia thing" was on his mind.

Jesus FUCKING Christ, Congress.

This is what you're defending every time you curl up into a ball, roll over, and play dead.

Time to Start Counting the Cars Getting Derailed Off the trump Train

Welp.

I hadn't really been writing much about the Russia-trump scandal because too many details were coming in too many directions, and a lot of it was pretty much only going to get me riled up without any honest solutions (reason why is later).

But today a major bomb dropped.

President Loser of the Popular Vote donald trump fired embattled FBI Director Comey.

And trump's excuse for it? Oh, it's not because the FBI and other agencies happen to be investigating Russia's ties to trump's political campaign handlers and advisors. According to the firing letter, trump is claiming he's dumping Comey for mishandling the investigation into Hillary's emails.

The very same email "scandal" in late October that had a part in weakening voter turnout for Hillary, essentially gaming the election FOR trump.

Remember what I said about that non-scandal?

And then people started asking just WHAT was in these new emails to begin with, and how they could tie into the questionably overblown scandal of Hillary's Secret Sec of State Server. Reporters like Pete Williams at NBC started digging - and started hearing from sources in the FBI and Department of Justice - and found out the "new and shocking" emails were in fact tied into the ongoing investigation into disgraced ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner's habit of sexting (including the recent allegations he went after a 14-year-old girl online), and that it had more to do with Hillary's personal advisor Huma Abedin - Weiner's rightly angry ex - than with Hillary herself. There's no evidence Hillary has anything to do with these new emails.

In other words, this is just another goddamn Nothing-burger the Far Right are twisting into another anti-Hillary conspiracy.

The story quickly turned on the fact that Comey overstated the value of the new revelations as they related to Hillary, and that he misrepresented which investigation was actually being pursued. He also - according to former FBI personnel - violated various departmental protocols with the FBI and DOJ. The one who's really in trouble now is Comey...

A lot of follow-up stories between now and October painted Comey in unflattering ways. He jumped out too early on the Hillary emails, for example, while saying NOTHING in public about the then-growing investigation into trump's Russian ties. He kept trying to make himself into a hero - that he was trying to warn voters, that he was trying to be nonpartisan - but more and more evidence cropped up that he caved to Republican pressure to leak anything embarrassing about Hillary if he could.

But this really, HONESTLY, doesn't have to do with Hillary's emails.

This has everything to do with trump. And how scared he is that the FBI - among others - are digging too close to his Russian allies.

A lot of Twitter chatter has been comparing this sudden firing to the infamous Saturday Night Massacre, when Nixon - realizing the special prosecutor investigating Watergate could gain access to his tape recordings - panicked and fired the Attorney General, drove the Deputy AG to resign in order to force the investigation to close. It backfired. Public outrage - and political anger in Congress even among Republicans - forced Nixon to backtrack and hire another special prosecutor... and eventually had to turn over the "smoking gun" tapes anyway.

What trump just did - firing a government official in the middle of overseeing a legal investigation involving the same White House firing him - is a very Nixonian, Active-Negative, "save my ass" move. All it does is give your political opponents more ammunition that you're trying to kill that investigation, which falls under very serious charges of Obstruction.

The troubling matters now are 1) trump will try to hire an FBI Director who will shut down the Russia probes, 2) fire additional agency employees and officers who may threaten his hold on power, and 3) how quickly the Republicans in Congress roll over and play dead.

That's the reason why I'm not blogging about #Russiatrump every day yelling my head off about the clear criminal wrong-doings of the likes of Mike Flynn and Paul Manafort and Carter Page and GODS KNOWS how many other people (including trump himself). We're talking election tampering, computer hacking, questionable business deals, shady money transactions... These are things where if a Democratic President was doing ONE of these things the Republican Congress would be gleefully filing impeachment papers on an hourly basis.

But it's trump. It's one of their own. Republicans were oh so eager to investigate the shit out of Hillary for nothing-burgers like her emails and BEHGHAZI ZOMG, but where trump is involved the House and the Senate leadership turn into a bunch of cowards.

Already that "sane veteran" of the Senate Lindsey Graham is rolling over on the Comey firing on his damn tweet feed. I guarantee you the "moderates" among the GOP are running for the hills.

As long as we have a Republican-controlled Congress TERRIFIED OF THEIR FOX-NOT-NEWS HATE-DRIVEN VOTING BASE THAT WORSHIPS trump, this nation is not going to see one iota of law and justice resolving these matters.

This train wreck is going to keep piling up until the Republicans get their damn tax cuts passed. And THAT becomes another disaster altogether.

We are so fucking screwed.

To the 62 million who voted for trump, Иди́/Пошёл в жо́пу!


Update: Rude Pundit's take is concise and accurate and truthful. We are so fucking screwed.

Cake

First I will get baked, and then there will be cake.

The cake is not a lie.

So now I'm 47. Where do I go from here...

Cinco De Mayo 2017

To be fair, there's not much to celebrate this year.

Having that anti-immigrant Hater in the White House is enough to put a dour mood on any celebration.

...

What the hell, let's do this!

A Dark Night Full of Republicans Drunk On Their Hate

I noted earlier, the modern Republican Party is so hate-driven, so obsessed with its Utopia tax-cut world, that they would keep coming after Obamacare because they can't think any other way.

Because Republicans hate Obama this much, they voted to kill off your health care coverage. They did it with a bill so screwed up that they didn't even have the language for it ready for people to read it. They rushed it to the floor without the Congressional Budget Office grading it. They just wanted to crow that they had "their victory" killing off Obamacare.

And then the motherfuckers celebrated with a beer.

I am not joking.

Despite all the phone calls, despite all the angry town halls of people terrified of losing their coverage, despite all the polls saying how Americans were realizing just what Obama's Health Care plan meant... these Republicans are a bunch of sadists.

They don't deserve your votes. They never did.

Do you see why I kept screaming the last ten years "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T VOTE REPUBLICAN?" This is why.

To every Democrat, get candidates in EVERY Congressional district NOW. Start campaigning. Make this the issue. Hit the Republicans every fucking day on this until 2018 and beyond.

To every Independent voter, this is your wake-up call. There is only one side of this fight that is fighting for the people to survive. Start supporting Democrats across the board, dammit.

To every registered Republican about to lose their family's Medicaid funding, to every registered Republican about to find out your hospital visit for a bum knee twenty years ago counts as a pre-existing condition disqualifying you for any help, to every registered Republican who voted for these liars and hypocrites and evildoers who cut your health care just so their billionaire buddies can keep a million more in their pockets... You deserve every hellish health-care moment that awaits you.

To the worthless cowardly Tuesday Group, you so-called moderates showed no power or willingness to stand up against a terrible health care bill. No wonder the Far Right wingnuts bully their way into party leadership roles.

And to the goddamn Republican Congresscritters getting drunk while the rest of us die, I hope to GOD YOU ALL GET CIRRHOSIS OF THE LIVER.

It's May 2017. It's Summer Blockbuster Season!

And as always I keep an eye out for AMONymous' annual Blockbuster Trailer!

A mash-up of all the action-packed movies to expect between April through September!

He does a cool job of it.

I am totally stoked for Wonder Woman, and Guardians of the Galaxy v2. The rest, I'm kinda keeping an eye on my budget for the summer.

I Award You No Points trump, And May God Have Mercy On Us All

So this happened (via The Atlantic via other sources):

In an interview with Salena Zito for Sirius XM radio, Trump discussed the nastiness of the 2016 campaign... He was told that the 1828 race between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson was the most similar, he said...

Direct quote from trump: I mean had Andrew Jackson been a little later you wouldn’t have had the Civil War. He was a very tough person, but he had a big heart. He was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War, he said, “There’s no reason for this.” People don’t realize, you know, the Civil War, if you think about it, why? People don’t ask that question, but why was there a Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?

Give me a second.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"There's no reason for this?" Actually, there was. SLAVERY. The Southern states did not want to compromise on the issue, and confronted with the Northern states dominating the 1860 national elections they freaked out and declared civil war.

I've discussed this before: The Civil War wasn't really avoidable. The cultural, economic, and political divisions over slavery made it a certainty.

Andrew Jackson, by the way, knew it was coming. When he fought with John C. Calhoun and South Carolina over the tariff issue and Nullification, he noted "the tariff was only the pretext, and disunion and southern confederacy the real object. The next pretext will be the negro, or slavery question."

And Jackson was a slaveowner, and a nasty one to boot.

And Jackson had no heart (save for his wife Rachel and his profane parrot). Andrew Jackson was a sonofabitch. He made so many enemies they formed a political party (the Whigs) to oppose him. He left thousands of Native Americans to suffer and die. He charged into duels to the death so often he had a f-cking body count even Generals (and he was one) couldn't match before he got into the White House.

trump's statements on this showcase a level of idiocy, failure of knowledge, and outright ignorance that even this movie scene cannot be harsh enough:

My mom was a history teacher. I had her for AP European and she was disappointed I only scored a 4 on the exam. She also hated that I fell asleep in class: dammit Mom, the air conditioner was busted, I kept passing out! Even with me sleeping through half the class, I learned more history than this imbecile pretending to be the President Loser of the Popular Vote.

If trump had been in one of Mom's history classes, she would have flunked him out.

And this idiot is in the White House. And 62 million of you voted him there! How idiotic were YOU?!

God help us.

Loyalty Day

there's one reason why trump declared this Loyalty Day: to make people swear fealty, and to try and make it like they're swearing fealty to HIM.

No. No I won't.

I'm with Cap.

My Loyalty is with the United States and to the American Dream.

But there has been also the American Dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.
- From historian James Adams in Epic of America (1931)

All Of Us, United (Norman Rockwell's The Right To Know)

To hell with trump.

Save America.

The Only Detail You Need To Know About ANY Republican Tax Plan

For all the chatter about trump's tax plan proposal, for any chatter about Ryan's tax plans, just remember one thing:

Republican tax plans are NOT reforms: Republican tax plans are attempts to enrich the greedy, cause massive deficits, and kill government effectiveness all in one single blow.

Republican tax cuts do only one thing well: destroy. The rest are merely details.

They won't admit it, but they're close to realizing how dangerous it is for themselves. It's why they've begun punting the fiscal spending deadlines down the road for a week to avoid shutdowns they know they'll get blamed for.

Welcome back to the Era of Oh God We're Going Over a Cliff.

Having Gone Radio Silent

I know I haven't been blogging much.

There's only so many times I can write "Jesus Fucking Christ, America, What the HELL DID YOU VOTE FOR?"

Any attempt to focus on just one thing trump is doing wrong is next to impossible. I'd be writing five to twelve different articles every day.

There's a chance once I get some of my fiction writing projects completed I'll be back to full blogging outrage. But one thing at a time.

Good luck, and don't let the bastards get you down.

Everything Is Broken. Burn In Hell, Mitch McConnell

(Update: Good morning, everybody from Crooks & Liars! Thank you again Batacchio for the link to Mike's Blog Round-Up! Just a note to visitors, I'm currently distracted from blogging due to a severe case of "I GOT TO FINISH MY NOVEL" project, so please don't worry about the lack of new content here. And if there's any of you from Albany GA, I hope to see you in August at Epicon)

So let's list the various sins of Mitch McConnell:

• He plotted from Day One of Barack Obama's Presidential administration to hinder, delay, and obstruct any agenda Obama had. McConnell did this while as Minority Leader using Senate rules of Cloture and Filibuster to prevent the Senate from voting on almost everything that came to the floor. You wanna know how Congress stopped working? This is one major part of the problem (the other part is goddamn Far Right Wingnuts)

Look at how it DOUBLED when McConnell became Minority Leader (chart provided by The Week)

• McConnell took the Obstructionist game to its most horrifying conclusion by blocking Obama's RIGHT AS PRESIDENT to nominate and fill a vacancy in the Supreme Court with Merrick Garland, blocking the nominee for a FULL YEAR - UNHEARD OF IN 200-PLUS YEARS OF CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT - all in the hopes of a Republican winning the 2016 Election to make sure the GOP retains political control of the Court. Well, the sonofabitch got what he wanted, denying Garland a legitimate seat on the Court and giving it to Gorsuch, a trump nominee with a shit-ton of red flags and a likelihood of making our lives worse. (and before any wingnuts show up here screaming "Biden Rule! It's Biden's idea!" let me point out that McCONNELL IS THE ONE WHO USED IT. This is the McConnell Rule. SUCK ON THAT)

• There have been reports - more of them coming out now as investigations into trump's dealings with Russian businessmen and trump handlers' dealings with Russian AGENTS get serious - that the Intelligence agencies informed Republican leaders in Congress as far back as October (maybe even in August) that trump's campaign was actively engaged with Russian hackers and other forces to manipulate the 2016 Elections. Word is, McConnell refused to do anything about it, accusing Obama of playing politics with the intel. As it becomes clearer that trump DID deal with the Russians to mess with the elections, it becomes likely that McConnell allowed treasonous acts to occur just so he could stay in power.

The deepest pit in Hell is not enough for McConnell.

And worse, every evil act he committed was rewarded by an American electorate who bought into McConnell's kabuki theater. Every time the Republicans obstructed and blocked Obama and the Democrats, they won more elections. Any attempt at accountability got flushed down the nation's toilet.

All that's left us is an America under the control of a wingnut-driven party that can't even compromise with itself.

All that's left us is an America under the control of a Congress that can't even unify under one party to get anything done (even the stuff that could make things worse).

All that's left us is an America under the thumb of a goddamn bankrupt con artist bully breaking constitutional rules and executive office ethics - and likely committing TREASON working with a foreign power against our country - all in the glory of his goddamn brand name.

Let me repeat: The deepest pit in Hell is not enough for Mitch McConnell.

They Can't Quit Hating Obamacare, Baby

Jeez. Just when you thought the Republicans learned their lesson not to fuck with Obama's legacy, they're right back on the "Repeal" bandwagon trying to nuke Obamacre from orbit for, what, the 97th time?

To reference David Anderson (previously Richard Mayhew when he needed a pseudonym as he worked in the HC industry) on Balloon-Juice:

In simple terms, a carrier can’t deny a hemophiliac coverage but they can charge an actuarial fair premium of $90,000 per year. A carrier can’t deny a young woman who either is or intends to become pregnant. They just don’t have to cover the prenatal or labor and delivery costs.

It is effectively a slightly modified option 3 of Cassidy-Collins where states can return to the 2009 status quo if they so actively elect to do so. If we combine a single state choosing this route and sell across state lines, it would lead the entire country’s individual market back to 2009...

From what I can tell: The Republicans in Congress are basically going to kill any coverage in health care, and they're going to try and shift the blame onto the states to get away with it.

The way David Anderson describes it, the Replacement-to-the-Replacement Bill (AHCA 2.0) is worse than the original AHCA.

Why are the Republicans even bothering?

Because somewhere in that shared reptilian brain of the party is the evil desire to wreck ANYTHING with Obama's name on it, and they want to prove they can actually do this without the party falling apart like it did two weeks ago.

Frances Langum at Crooks and Liars is in agreement:

And here's the background: the current Congress (and especially the Freedumb Caucus) is chock full of Class of 2010 and later numbnuts who have NO congressional experience when Obama wasn't president, and NO platform other than "repeal and replace" that Obamacare.

They don't know what else to do.

And this latest incarnation is just. terrible.

They are getting rid of preexisting conditions, people. Because who wants to cover sick people?

By the way, it's always been about getting rid of preexisting conditions and yielding a big tax cut for the rich...

According to Langum, the current follow-up on this is that the Freedom Caucus is stepping back from any deal on AHCA 2.0. Still, this is worrisome. The Republicans are not learning from their mistakes. They never had to before. Every time they caused damage to the nation since 2009, they've been rewarded with election wins (sans 2012). But now they don't have the excuses and scapegoats to point at anymore: they can't rely on the Democrats - Obama in the White House - to stop themselves from driving over that cliff.

Keep calling, America. Keep resisting. Make damn sure the Republican Congresscritters realize this time there are consequences for their bullshit.

And start getting worried about that fiscal cliff too. That Debt Ceiling problem is coming back and this lineup of Jokers to the Right are not focusing on a solution for that at all...

You Got What You Voted For, America. Con Artists Among the Conservatives...

Part of my frustration over the current national crisis of incompetence, cronyism, and treason is how the media keeps treating the "trump Voter" with any sympathy or value.

No. No they shouldn't.

They keep covering the 62 million who voted for a well-documented bankrupt con artist all the while ignoring the 65 million who voted for a vetted US Senator and Secretary of State who had the misfortune of being an oversized bullseye target for a slime campaign that's lasted 25 years.

I'm getting sick of the skewed media coverage here.

And I'm not the only one (per Charles P. Pierce at Esquire):

A while back, I ran out of patience with the endless provision of cookies to the people who looked at the United States of America and decided that just what we needed was to have it run for a while by a Manhattan real-estate grifter and career public nuisance because he was going to bring jobs and money back to a bunch of states he very likely couldn't find on a map. But, in a continuing act of self-criticism that would do the Cultural Revolution proud, ever since the results rolled in last November, America's elite newspapers and news divisions have offered up linespace and airtime as a kind of penance to the "overlooked" and "forgotten" real Americans.

After the first several of these, I was on the verge of recommending that the people running the newspapers and news divisions simply stand themselves up in the town square of Bug Tussle and flog themselves for being educated as well as they are. The sub rosa tone of apology in most of these exercises was revolting.

Holy mother of god, I'm tired of reading quotes from people who live in places where the local economy went to hell or Mexico in 1979, and who have spent the intervening years swallowing whatever Jesus Juice was offered up by theocratic bunco artists of the Christocentric Right, and gulping down great flagons of barely disguised hatemongering against the targets of the day, all the while voting against their own best interests, now claiming that empowering Donald Trump as the man who will "shake things up" on their behalf was the only choice they had left. You had plenty of choices left.

In Kansas, you could have declined to re-elect Sam Brownback, who'd already turned your state into a dismal Randian basket case. In Wisconsin, you had three chances to turn out Scott Walker, and several chances to get the state legislature out of his clammy hands. And, now that the teeth of this new administration are becoming plain to see, it's a good time to remind all of you that you didn't have to hand the entire federal government over to Republican vandalism, and the presidency over to an abject loon on whom Russia may well hold the paper.

You all had the same choices we all had. You saddled the rest of us with misrule and disaster. Own it...

Every person who voted trump crossed a line. You had every warning, you had every clue there. He even bragged to your faces that he could and would abuse your trust the second you gave it to him, and you treated that like trustworthy leadership. You failed in your primary duty as citizens of the United States: to take an honest look at what you were voting for. You put your votes to a man whose only skill has been to shout at people on a fake "reality" show, and now you're wondering why that skill-set doesn't work in politics. And why a guy who claimed he'd "drain the swamp" of DC politics instead filled it up with Wall Street greedheads like himself.

You don't deserve one lick of sympathy.

The only ones who DO deserve the sympathy are the majority of Americans who DIDN'T vote for trump, because they did their damnedest to stop him and couldn't because of a broken Electoral College system.

I have sympathy for the millions of teachers and students whose schools are about to get turned into hamburger franchises disguised as unregulated charter academies.

I have sympathy for the millions of families - legally here in the US as citizens and immigrants - now all of a sudden targets of a bullying immigration police force pushing a "papers please" roundup that's arresting community leaders and not the "bad hombres" the Far Right keeps fearmongering about.

I have sympathy for the millions of Americans who are going to see worsening wages and job security under a wave of deregulation of protections and rights that won't bring back jobs but will boost the profit margins of short-sighted CEOs.

I have no sympathy for the fools who voted for all of this to happen, out of whatever blind ideology or sadistic glee that compels you.

You're gonna get screwed just like the rest of us. I just hope it hurts more for you.

Obligitory trump April Fools Article 2017 Edition

President trump just walked out of an executive order signing without actually signing the executive order. trump was poised to sign a pair of executive orders Friday targeting trade abuses, but a reporter's question distracted him from signing at least one of them.

As trump thanked the press, a reporter jumped in with a question about ousted National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who was recently denied his request for immunity in exchange for testifying before Congress about ties between trump's campaign and Russia's presidential election meddling. trump, looking visibly flustered upon being asked about Flynn, responded by walking out the door.

Before trump could get too far, Vice President Mike Pence stopped the president and consulted with him in the doorway. Pence then picked the unsigned order off of the desk and followed trump out of the door.

That's it. How can we have April Fools gags when the biggest gag is REALLY HAPPENING TO US AND ISN'T GODDAMN FUNNY...?

Amateur Hour At the Chaos Club

So, for the month of March what have we learned boys and girls?

Via Michael Gerson at Real Clear Politics:

Republicans got a leader who is impatient and easily distracted -- by cable news on the Russian scandal or by Arnold Schwarzenegger's TV ratings. The content and consequences of his tweets are bad enough; worse is the disordered personality traits they reveal -- vindictiveness, shallowness and lack of discipline. Trump spent a total of 18 days on his health care bill before demanding a vote. And he made no speech to the nation to advance his ideas -- as every other recent president would have done.

Republicans got an administration that is incompetent. The White House policy process has been erratic and disorganized. It has failed to provide expert analysis and assistance to Congress and did little to effectively advocate the president's policy in ways that unite the party.

Republicans got an administration that is morally small. Trump's proposed budget would require massive cuts in disease research, global development and agricultural programs -- just as a famine gathers a hideous strength. The proposed budget practices random acts of gratuitous cruelty.

This is a pretty bad combination: empty, easily distracted, vindictive, shallow, impatient, incompetent and morally small. This is not the profile of a governing party.

It can hardly surprise us. The president had no governing experience. He has no detailed governing agenda. He trashed everyone who tried to govern in the past. And we somehow expect him to overcome the complex governing task presented by the Freedom Caucus?

We have in the White House a man beset by scandal. Refusing to answer to any ethical standard, committing acts of nepotism that serve no purpose other than to profit his own family. Pushing our allies away with childish arrogance and shakedown moves worthy of a neighborhood mafioso. Committing acts of ineptitude that would get people fired from any real job.

Sitting in the center of an ongoing storm connecting him to Russian agents and businessmen tied to Putin regarding possible sabotaging and manipulation of our 2016 General Election. A HORRIFYING BLEND of greed, political machinations, and I am not kidding a growing body count.

trump's mishandling of the Russian investigations has been so inept he's dragged in an idiotic House Republican in a poorly-staged attempt to invert the news cycle to "vindicate" trump's behaviors as well as sabotage the House Intelligence Committee's investigations.

trump polled recently at 35 percent. Obama never polled that low. It took Katrina wiping out half the Gulf Coast for Dubya to poll that low. No President Loser of the Popular Vote never opened an administration below 50 percent and trump has done nothing to convince the Non-Republican polling audience otherwise.

This isn't even getting to the fact that trump's intentionally understaffing his own departments, and the fact that trump's only "successes" his first two months in office has been to energize an Immigration agency into greater bullying and harassing of honest hard-working citizens and residents (and their kids, and whole families, and... ). We've already seen how trump will deal with Congress - foolishly - and we're facing an incoming crisis of a government shutdown that the Republicans aren't even addressing.

This train wreck shows no sign of stopping even as every car piles on top of each other like a stack of broken dominoes.

The Difference Between Democrats and Republicans

The recent failure of the GOP-controlled House to pass their much-desired "Nuke Obamacare" plan - the thing they CAMPAIGNED ON for 7 straight years - is a sharp contrast to how Democrats created Obamacare in the first place.

Republicans this year brought out a plan (AHCA, or Ryancare, or trumpcare, and also DOA) that was pretty much universally reviled, failed to build consensus, rushed it through committee before their own bean-counters could report on how bad the numbers were (and they still weren't fast enough: the CBO told us the numbers were BAD), lied about the elements of the bill that would harm just about anyone who wasn't rich, and alienated major factions between the Far Right - the Freedom Caucus - and the Center Right - The Tuesday Group, and for the love of God I can't recall ever hearing of them before this week, did I ever blog about them? - to where neither side would come to the bill's rescue.

Democrats brought out their plan in 2009 (PPACA, or ACA, AKA Obamacare) that had enough defenders to make it plausible, worked for nine months or so to build consensus within their own ranks, took time to reach across the aisle to get Republicans on board (and was using a Republican model to base it on!), argued in good faith about the merits between the market-control factions of the Center Left - Blue Dog Democrats - and the Progressive Left seeking massive reforms toward universal healthcare, and only rushed the bill into law when it became clear they were losing the window of opportunity to get ANY healthcare reform passed at all.

As such, we can see a clear difference between the two major parties.

Democrats - since perhaps the FDR era - care more about competency and good governance. That even despite the arguments among their own ranks and the mistrust the Progressive and Centrists have towards each other, they still recognize the need to make things - anything, sometimes - work even if the compromise betrays a core ideal they possess (maybe not one they share, but at least they respect) as long as a majority of their constituency can gain from it. They allowed some dissent with individual Party members but made sure the overall Message was one of "getting it done." They would rather make government work than shut it down or destroy it.

Republicans - over the past 25 years maybe more - care more about winning elections and dominating the news cycle. They plaster over any dissent among the ranks, let the fringe Far Right control the messaging and campaigning to the extent that their Moderates are alienated and abused, and press for an agenda that does not reflect the majority's wants or needs. They shut down government rather than make it work.

Nancy Pelosi, once Speaker during the 2007-2011 years that the Democrats controlled the House, was able to build and maintain her coalition, whipping her party to vote. While she lost a few Dem Congresscritters with certain votes, she didn't lose those coalitions by making enough deals and compromises to placate her party, and got legislation passed during an economic crisis - the Great Recession - that required action be done.

Paul Ryan, current Speaker after his predecessor John Boehner was driven out by the Far Right factions, has done little during his tenure as Speaker. He's tried to placate the Freedom Caucus that drove Boehner to resign, but all that's done is embolden that faction at the expense of the rest of the party. Ryan pushed the AHCA vote not because he was confident it could pass, but because he was trying to force his own party's factions to wilt under the pressure of "getting this done" and concede to his will.

Ryan failed where Pelosi succeeded.

Ryan, like much of the Republican Party he ostensibly leads, does not believe that government can work. As a result, he doesn't work as a leader. Ryan is more Messenger, a wannabe Acolyte preaching the word of Ayn than taking the time to secure deals and compromises.

Republicans - this modern version - don't believe in compromises. As a Party, they make sure they can only do things as a "Majority of the Majority," meaning they cut Democrats out of the loop when it comes to input and when it comes to backing those bills. Anybody who does otherwise - such as Boehner back in 2014(15?) when he needed to break the Majority rule to get a bill passed - isn't in charge as a Republican for much longer. The Republicans' idea of compromise is "Democrats roll over and vote our way no matter what."

So, that's it. Basically, the big difference between Democrats and Republicans:

Democrats do all the work. Republicans do all the blather.

It used to be better than this, back when there were enough Republicans who cared.

Wonder where they got to, before the party died on everybody?

This Will Cut Deep

So what exactly just happened?

Republicans had campaigned for 8 years on obstructing Obama's Presidency as best they could, and spent 7 years campaigning against Obama's signature Healthcare reform package Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare).

Republicans finally had full control of the federal government. They controlled the House under Speaker Paul "Ayn Rand Is My Goddess" Ryan. They controlled the Senate - slightly - under Majority Leader Mitch "Burn In Hell For Your Obstruction" McConnell. They pulled off getting trump into the Presidency due to Russian involvement voter suppression and a broken Electoral College. Anything they passed in Congress, trump would happily sign off on. No more vetoes from Obama.

Republicans simply had to draft up a Health Care Replacement plan that could give them their desired Tax Cuts, give them their desired deregulation of industry, and still provide some semblance of coverage to make it look effective in comparison to a "flawed and broken" Obamacare they warned was going to make things bad.

Republicans came out with a Replacement bill - the AHCA - that actually kicked millions of Americans off health care coverage, reduced Medicaid AND Medicare funding, forced millions more Americans to pay more costs out-of-pocket, threatened to close hospitals and nursing homes, ruined health care protections for women, and did nothing to fix the dreaded deficits.

Republicans suddenly got an earful from millions of Americans protesting at town halls against their Replacement plan. They found no allies among their valued business buddies, many of whom were facing uncertainty and possible financial collapse with AHCA. They couldn't come up with sufficient excuses about why 24 million - at least - would lose health care.

Republicans could not rally around one coherent plan. When Ryan offered to make changes to the existing bill, the Far Right Freedom Caucus made harsher demands that actually made more Moderate members of The Tuesday Group (really? there's Moderate Republicans still around?!) reject those changes. And the Freedom Caucus wouldn't commit to the new changes either. It got ugly, fast.

Republicans just had to cancel in the House of Representatives their floor vote on their flawed, destructive Replacement plan, meaning they can't go through with their Repeal plan, basically meaning Obamacare remains intact (albeit vulnerable to Executive branch sabotage down the road).

In short:

MEEP motherfucking MEEP.

As I noted often before:

...The other thing Obama leaves behind is a broken Republican Party. Sure, they won the 2016 elections: but they lost every last shred of integrity, honesty, maturity, intelligence, wisdom, and long-term survival in the process. They ran on a platform of destruction: massive tax cuts for the rich a majority of Americans don't support, nuking health care that a majority of Americans are beginning to realize is gonna hurt them if it's taken away, rolling back civil rights gains, and discrediting every foreign policy success of the last 70 years (!) just to appease their new best friend Putin.

And having made this fantasy world of lies - where OBAMA was a FAILURE - the Republicans are going to try to reshape the real world to that fantasy. And they're going to find the real world doesn't work that way (and that Obama was more successful than they feared)...

...We're already watching the Republicans stumble on their attempt to purge Obamacare/ACA, but while they're setting up the first stage of launch they're finding out that "Repealing" is harder than they thought: Obamacare isn't just a layer added onto our existing Health Care laws, it BECAME our Health Care laws meaning any removal is going to leave a gaping hole in our economy that Congress HAS to Replace. Oh they'll still repeal Obamacare because they've made their Narrative and dare not deviate from script, but they're finding out NOW there's a huge price to pay and the Democratic Party is NOT going to be there to cover their asses...

I wasn't exaggerating. All they did was lie about Obama and Obamacare for seven years plus, and when it came time to deal with the Truth - that Obamacare was actually good for most Americans, that any repeal or cutbacks would cause damage to millions of lives - they had nothing.

The Republicans will still lie about this, of course. They'll point fingers, blame the Democrats for being so obstructionist - GEE, WHO TAUGHT THEM THAT, BOYS? - and they'll do everything to try and keep their base angry at the usual suspects. But it's out there, it's public and it's on the record: The Republicans themselves had Majority Control of the House of Representatives and they COULD NOT FULFILL THEIR BIGGEST CAMPAIGN PLEDGE OF KILLING OBAMACARE. This is on them. This is on a dying dysfunctional Party so obsessed with staying On Message for their Fox Not-News appearances - do read Frum's Waterloo follow-up he posted today - that they've forgotten how to do anything else.

This is what's called an unforced error: The Republicans had control of both wings of Congress, control of the Presidency, technically control of the Supreme Court, they had all the pieces in place to pass ANY bills they want... and they couldn't even agree on the biggest target they were aiming at, all because they fractured over the reality that their solutions were more disastrous than the "disaster" they were claiming to replace. For all the reputation Republicans have for being organized and On Message with their Narrative, this is a public display of ineptitude and incompetence that is rarely seen in our nation's history.

All those complaints about Democrats being too moderate, too calculating, too passive at times? It's called competence. They might screw up here and there, and act like cowards when they shouldn't, but the Democrats genuinely want to govern and make things work. When they passed ACA/Obamacare, it was with an eye towards making it work with the right organizations. Obama made sure to include the Health Care Industry as partners on the legislation: It may have pissed off the liberals who wanted socialized universal care, but it paid off long-term because those businesses recoiled from the Republican AHCA plan that created industry-wide chaos.

Like I noted before: Obama had to have known taking on a conservative model like ACA would wreck any future Republican sabotage because it took away any viable alternative the GOP could offer.

MEEP Motherfucking MEEP.

Tomorrow we keep fighting. The Republicans still have an agenda to dismantle every last bit of functioning government they can. Ryan may be wounded by this fight - can he still govern as Speaker if he can't even get his own Party aligned to vote his way? - but he still wants his precious precious TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH.

Tomorrow is another battle.

TONIGHT WE DANCE.

So Full of Ugly Sights, of Ghastly Dreams

Now is the winter of our trump con artist/
Made gingrinchy spring by the sons of newt 
- this Shakespeare bloke crying in the corner over Brexit

So here now the madness that befouls the land.

Just to note:

The House Republicans are set to vote on their "Replacement" Plan for Obamacare - ostensibly AHCA but known as either Ryancare, trumpcare or DOA - but they've lost so much support from their Far Right "Freedom Caucus" that Ryan is trying to win them back by stripping out more coverage elements from insurance providers. That the Republicans are trying to save their healthcare package by making it crueler tells you all you need to know about the Party: they honestly have no idea how average Americans are struggling, and they have no empathy for anyone save their millionaire-and-billionaire buddies craving their unjustified tax cuts.

Just to note:

Our sitting President Loser of the Popular Vote is under investigation by our FBI and other intelligence agencies because of his years-long business ties to certain Russian business and political figures that our own agencies have under surveillance. These ties between trump and the Russians may have unduly corrupted our nation's 2016 general election. There's clear evidence that Putin and his Russian cronies preferred trump winning over Hillary, and growing evidence there was foreign influence in the form of fake news and questionable finances.

In short: We're dealing with a White House more beholden to the Kremlin than to the Constitution.

Just to note:

The House Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes (R-CA) just yesterday received an intel report that he immediately brought to public attention, then took to the trump White House to brief the President Loser of the Popular Vote to tip him off (this is akin to having a District Attorney take a police report to the head of the Gambino family to warn the mob), failed to inform his other committee members like he's supposed to, then tried to justify it all to a media that had never seen any previous Intel chair do this kind of stunt before.

In short: The leadership of the Republican Party would rather compromise an ongoing investigation into a corrupt presidency than let that investigation serve the nation's interests. They are putting party ahead of country, and putting trump ahead of the Rule of Law.  They would rather work with Russia than work with Democrats, their fellow Americans. It reeks of obstruction of justice, it reeks of treason.

This is how far partisanship and lying and false narratives have brought us.

A broken kingdom ruled by a bent ruler on the verge of collapse.

An entire political party called Republican, placed upon the stage as ambitious Richard, carrying the stains of the blood of innocents and a greed for power, only now on the eve of battle waking to bad dreams of all the sins that brought this party to this place.

I shall despair. There is no creature loves me/
And if I die, no soul shall pity me/
Nay, wherefore should they, since that I myself/ 
Find in myself no pity to myself?
- Richard III The modern Republican Party

This blood red day will mark the darkness still to come. There is no House of Richmond come to save us.

Red States Cutting Off Their Own Noses Part CXXIV: The "Who Lives Off The Federal Teat" Paradox

So trump dumped his proposed budget this week, and amid all the wailing and gnashing of teeth and rending of hair about how sharp the spending cuts are I am willing to bet a lot of trump-voting Republicans in the Red States are all thinking to themselves "Well, these cuts couldn't possibly affect ME after all. I'm sure the budget-slashing is only gonna hurt the urban poor in Blue States, or programs that I don't ever use, or..."

Yeah, the disconnect is gonna be strong on this one.

Still, just a reminder about how ALL federal domestic spending works:

Usually through grants towards the states, at various levels of funding per state depending on the program. The grants come with certain requirements to ensure each state plugs the money into the appropriate state-level agency and thence to the masses. For those programs not fully funded, the state fills in those gaps with their own revenues.

But where exactly does the federal money go?

Per the Tax Foundation site, a link. https://taxfoundation.org/which-states-rely-most-federal-aid-2/

O Irony. Some of the Reddest of states - anti-government, railing against "lazy bums" AKA the dreaded "Other" living off the taxpayers' largesse - are the ones taking most of the federal money.

Granted, there are exceptions like North Dakota which takes the lowest amount of fed money. And for a Liberal hotbed, New York takes a middling chunk (likely due to the financial cornerstone of NYC taking a lot of national security/legal funding).

But four of the Top Five are traditionally Deep South Conservative states (Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky). Missouri's 6th and Georgia's 8th. The only consistently Blue state of the past 5-6 election cycles in the Top 10 is Oregon (wait, maybe Maine, except they still vote in too many Republicans to office).

You'd think Virginia, right there at the hub of government power, would be a major player for federal aid, or at least similar to Maryland. But no, they're not on the hook for a lot of Benjamins.

If there's any consistency between the Dependent States, it might be due to a lack of diversified industries. That is, a lot of the top needy states are reliant on Agriculture/Farming, Ranching, OR Fishing. Georgia still sticks out as an odd duck because of Atlanta being a massive business hub: Mayhaps those businesses are reliant on federal funds as well.

State-level taxation doesn't show any consistency: Louisiana has a high corporate tax rate but Mississippi and Georgia do not, yet they are in the Top 10 for Federal Aid.

Thing is, in the end the neediest states for Federal Aid tend to be the ones with the angriest citizenry screaming for the Feds to stop supporting "the wrong kind" with Federal Aid.

Do you think they'll keep screaming that if trump's Budget passes?

Well Ain't This A Kick To the Ego

Damn, this was a quick turnaround.

Last time I put in for an FBI Freedom of Information Act request - 2004 or 2005 - it took two months for a letter to come back saying "Neener neener we ain't telling."

I put in another request just last week... and the letter was in my mailbox today.

just to note, I blacked out my address, not the FBI.

"...this response neither confirms nor denies the existence of your subject's name on any watch lists."

Well, that's a blow to a political ranter's ego. Not only did they not bother to search the ancient, expansive warehouse for my file, but they're basically denying I'm dangerous enough to warrant even a single page on my nefarious blogging and turnout at various street protests.

C'mon. This is the FBI here. I can see that on the additional paperwork they sent with the letter that the Bureau claims "they don't keep files on everybody." This is the house Hoover built. There's gotta be a file on everybody. That's the whole point of the FBI (well, that and investigating Hillary for what she's ordering for dinner off the delivery menu in Manhattan tonight). I don't mind that they got a file on me. I just want the validation that they do.

Even angry moderate radicals want the attention. Not ALL the time, mind, just enough to make us feel wanted... in the good way, not in the "Top 10 Most Wanted" way. At least tell me I'm Number 68,309,199th on the List, will ya.

AND THEY FAILED TO GET GILLIAN'S SIGNATURE ON IT.

/weeps

WHY ARE RABBITS ONLY WORTH TWO CENTS?! ahem

This Is Why Congress Should Not Have the Right to Name Their Damn Bills (w/ Update)

I know I shouldn't keep blogging, I swore I would stop for this month, I've already broken that promise about twice now, but this... THIS MONSTROSITY... THIS STUPIDITY... THIS... GGGGGGGOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMNNNNNNNNNNNN... augh, here lemme show ya.

Congress posted their insane, lethal alternative to Obamacare at their website, here's the link to it until they freak out and drop it. Just in case, I screenshot it so you can see here what it is that's PISSING ME OFF.

LOOK AT THAT SHIT.

They are titling it "World's Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017."

...

...

JESUS MOTHERF-CKING CHRIST PARDON MY SWEDISH, LORD, BUT DAMN THEM DAMN THESE ARROGANT SADISTIC PRICKS.

Greatest?

GREATEST?!?!

Their bill weakens Medicaid, kicks millions off their insurance plans, ups the costs on out-of-pocket fees, makes it worse for elderly coverage, and pretty much destabilizes the health care industry to where hospitals have to close and people lose jobs.

All it really does is cut taxes for the rich.

It's a goddamn disaster.

It's the worst ever.

Everybody other than the anti-Obamacare elitists are shredding it.

And yet Congress is trying to label this package of dogsh-t as though it's prime cut steak with a side of caviar and bread pudding for dessert.

SONS OF BITCHES.

They STILL think governance is all about marketing.

They KNOW GODDAMN WELL people are railing against this.

They have to be SADISTS and CLUELESS MORANS all at the SAME TIME.

/RAGE

(Update 3/20): I've been informed that this particular bill is NOT the RyantrumpCare Bill Of Doom, but a competing Bill of Doom from Rep. Jeff Sessions. (takes a look at the Sessions bill) OH CHRIST ON A BIKE THIS IS WORSE, GOD PLEASE I INVOKE YOU IN ALL SINCERITY TO SMITE THESE FOOLS FOR THEIR HUBRIS.

Yet Another Attempt to Penetrate the Bureaucracy

I know I shouldn't be blogging again, but I just wanted to put this out there.

Just for shits and giggles, I put in for a Freedom of Information request to the FBI to see if there's anything new in my files.

I did a request more than a decade ago, back during the early days of the War on Terror, just out of curiosity. I got a letter back about two months later that claimed I didn't have an FBI file. I didn't buy it - this is the agency Hoover built: EVERYBODY'S got an FBI file - but I figured it was probably too thin to have anything of merit for the FBI to share back.

It's been ten years or more, and I kinda wonder if my blogging has done anything to spike their interest.

Anyway, I want to make sure I don't have any business ties to Russia. I think we all should worry about that.

If anybody wants to do theirs, just follow that link above to the online request page and go through the prompts as best you can. Just be aware that this is now trumpWorld: every agency is understaffed at the moment so the requests will take longer to fill.

P.S. If you FBI peeps can get Gillian Anderson to autograph any of the paperwork you send me, that would be sweet.

The Bully's Need to Make Enemies and Scapegoats

So, trump (lower-case from now on) threw a hissy fit on Twitter again, this time accusing Obama of "illegal" wiretapping of trump Tower to SPY ON him and make him cry.

So, just a couple of quick observations here:

1) trump believes everything he reads in Breitbart and not the daily briefings.

2) The "wiretap" trump is likely worried about was legally obtained via a warrant. trump has no grasp of how FISA warrants actually work. According to reports, the FISA court actually denied the warrant twice because the FBI was focusing too much on trump's US associates, so the FBI re-worded the request to focus on the Russian contacts instead.

3) trump has clearly been the focus of some kind of investigation for months into his ties with foreign financial groups, specifically with Russia. trump's biggest problem the past month - alongside his administration's complete ineptitude - has been the nagging accusations of collusion with Russia to rig the 2016 elections to trump's favor.

4) if trump is complaining about anything, he's complaining about an official, legally processed investigation that's still outside of his control. a lot of which was happening without Obama giving specific orders to spy on trump.

And yet, trump went there in his accusations: Blaming Obama and accusing him of illegal misdeeds that trump can't prove.

So why even go there?

Other than the obvious blow to the ego trump has to be suffering with this Sword of Damocles hanging over his throne, trump is doing what all bullies do. He's trying to game the refs into seeing things his way.

And by refs I mean Congress.

The weekend tweets were a large red flag (no pun intended) signalling to trump's wingnut supporters to stir up a shitstorm against Obama and scream to their congressional puppies to DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT RADICAL KENYAN MOOSLIM IN THE WHITE HOUSE now on vacation. That part has worked, as the Far Right tweeters and pundits are all up in arms about Obama's "illegal wiretapping" that "should land him in jail".

What trump seems to be doing is two-fold: Get Congress to force the FBI and the rest of the Intelligence Community to stop investigating his ties to Russia (because he can't do it himself: that would be Obstruction), and to get Congress to force a faux investigation on Obama as a means of keeping their coalition - fraying under the struggles to repeal Obamacare - rallying around an external focus of anger and outrage.

Nothing kept the Far Right focused like their hatred of Hillary and their ability to investigate her over and over - like, 11 times wasn't it? - for Benghazi and her emails and her servers and her poor choice in MP3 players. Nothing kept the Far Right riled up like having Obama in the White House for eight years serving the public trust.

So here's trump, railing against a perceived injustice that is an actual legal investigation into his sins, trying to turn the focus away by faking an injustice that doesn't exist.

Makes himself the victim and everybody else the fools.

I wish more Americans would see that.

Motivational: To Run For Office

There is more to stopping Trump and the Far Right than being a caustic critic on the sidelines:

There is always a need for honest progressive people to run for office.

The most meaningful thing you can do in the age of Trump, for your community, for your country, is run for office. Across America, Republican politicians stand ready to do their part in the implementation of the Trump and GOP agenda. Beat them. Across America, Democrats blind to the stakes of the moment, comfortable in their positions or too timid to fight effectively against the Republican Party, stand, like bowling pins, ready to be knocked down again. Replace them. Not with some milquetoast professional or former lobbyist groomed by the state party. You. You, with the undocumented parents; you, who remembers when your town was a steel town; you, PTA regular; you, professor; you, concerned citizen, should run.

I'm going to look into this.

There are ways to set up funding as well. Try GoFundMe first, and look for other online funder sites that might work better for political organizing.

Sabbatical 2017

this place & the trump seem to have got the better of me - Walt Whitman, mostly

The dread and anxiety surrounding our current political situation has hurt my ability to sit and write out short stories and finish up other writing projects I'd like to get submitted & published.

I get distracted by the latest turmoil and feel compelled to blog about it, but at the cost of getting other shit done.

So I need to take this month off from blogging.

I know if something monstrously insane happens with this Trumpsterfire I will jump back in here to comment, but I need to force myself away from this for some time.

Just know this:

Anything and everything coming out of the Trump administration is a self-serving lie designed to make more people suffer.

Good luck.

Stay sane.