Looking Back. Looking Forward.

Looking Back on 2017: Furious, Forlorn, and Faithful.

Furious. I ranted, donated, blogged, Tweeted, and Facebooked. I signed many petitions, spoke out, called, and e-mailed my federal and state representatives. Forlorn. Trump is still president. Republicans passed their tax plan— legislation that’s riddled with loopholes and adds an estimated $1.47 TRILLION to the debt. Faithful. The Democrats reclaimed multiple seats in the Virginia House of Delegates, the House, and the Senate. I had the privilege of voting for Danica Roem, our first openly trans delegate. Danica won! My hope that our better natures will prevail is validated. “Faithful” won in the end.

2018: The scandal and subsequent fallout will be the BEST!

I recently watched HBO’s Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge.  Hunter S. Thompson reported on the 1972 Presidential campaign (Nixon (R) vs. McGovern (D)) for Rolling Stone. Post-election, Thompson compiled his many notebooks into Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72. The book revealed President Nixon to be a profoundly damaged man. Thompson would know. The father of gonzo journalism was a brilliant writer and a complete whack job.

In his Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas voice, Johnny Depp (who else?) reads passages from Fear and Loathing that describe how terrible a person Nixon was. As I listened, I thought, “holy fuck. Replace ‘Nixon’ with ‘Trump,’ and you’d never know Thompson was writing about a different president, almost 50 years ago. Then, I thought “no, Trump is much, much worse.” Nixon’s actions were criminal; Trump’s acts are criminal, treasonous, and possibly insane.

Trump (or his minions, with Trump’s tacit approval) conspired with a HOSTILE FOREIGN POWER in a massive cyber-attack against the U.S. Sounds like a clear case of treason to me.

Mental health experts suggest the president’s erratic, nonsensical actions indicate he’s mentally impaired. Indeed, the president seems oblivious to why taunting North Korea is a BAD FUCKING IDEA!

Pundits debate 25th Amendment remedies. However, upon Trump’s removal from office, we get Pence the bigoted zealot. If Pence is removed (Russia investigation), we get Paul Ryan, and Paul Ryan is no Gerald Ford. So, which do you prefer:

A)     Nuclear holocaust.
B)     Religious law ala The Handmaid’s Tale, or
C)      Unrestricted, Randian capitalism?

I’ll leave you to ponder our national existential crisis; I’m off to watch Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas again.  

Symbolic Speech is Constitutionally Protected, You Ignorant Fuckwhit!

"One of the fundamental rights this country is founded on was freedom of speech, and we have a long tradition of nonviolent, peaceful protest. Those who exercise the right to peacefully express themselves should not be demonized or ostracized.”

Sounds like a statement from a U.S. President (current or former), in response to criticisms of athletes who protest the current administration’s policies by kneeling, sitting, waiting to take the field after the National Anthem, or refusing to visit the White House post-playoff championship.

Nope!  Basketball great Michael Jordan stated that free speech is a founding principle of this country. Here’s how President Clownshoes Asshat responded, at a rally in Alabama:

"If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL, or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect...our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU'RE FIRED. Find something else to do!"

AND

"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he's fired. He's fired!"

AND

Fuck No! I would not “love” to see a fellow citizen lose his livelihood when he steps up and proclaims that there is something very, very wrong in America. And how fucking wrong it this: a sitting American President— the man who swore, before the Nation and God, to “uphold and defend” the U.S. Constitution— suggesting the government should PUNISH U.S. citizens for taking actions LEGALLY PROTECTED UNDER THE U.S. CONSITUTION!

In exchange for the right to govern on our behalf, the government agrees that it is subject to the will of the people and that the people have the “certain unalienable right” to point out when our elected officials are fucking up our country!

We should all be very, very concerned (or at least seriously uncomfortable) that the President thinks the Constitution only applies to people who agree with the government. Worse yet, this president believes he should have the power and authority to dictate WHAT speech the Constitution protects. Um, no, sorry. Spazzie’s got to call “Bullshit” on that! Our governing officials don’t get to choose how to apply the Constitution.

The Founders understood that one of the best prophylactics against tyranny is the citizenry’s ability to demonstrate against acts of oppression. Rather than punish dissent, the government should PROTECT such actions at all costs; even when some preceive these actions as distasteful or undesirable. Flag burning and effigy burning are two of my go-to examples. Try not to read too much into both examples involving fire.

The Constitution protects our right to burn the flag or burn a paper machete bust of the President, and the Supreme Court has upheld this right (read about Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989) here). If these are protected acts of “symbolic speech,” it’s a no brainer that athletes choosing to kneel or lock arms during the National Anthem is an act of protected symbolic speech. 

Once again, this president speaks to the horrifying truth underlying his (and his supproters) agenda: total disenfranchisement of anyone not wealthy, white, male and Christian. If you are black, brown or a woman; if you practice a religion other than Christianity, or practice no religion at all; if you identify as anything other than heterosexual and cis-gendered, then your systemic disenfranchisement, the separation of you from your Constitutional protections, is just.

Eventually, only those in the top one percent will be powerful enough, and wealthy enough, to combat government (and corporate) tyranny. And those who refuse to behave like we ‘know our place’ should look out.

So, if you happen to agree with President Clownshoes Asshat, that people who earn impressive amounts of money, for entertaining the masses, should just shut up and play, or “shut up and sing” (“Not Ready to Make Nice,” Dixie Chicks), WAKE.THE.FUCK.UP!! If this President is willing to deprive one group (i.e., athletes, musicians) of their rights, he’s prepared to deny ALL of us our rights.

This morning, President Asshat tweeted:

Yeah, no, sorry. I fully believe “the issue” has everything to do with race, but this isn’t exclusively about race; it’s also about distraction and redirection. While we’re all focused on the President’s Twitter feud with the NFL, we lose sight of the Russia Probe and the worsening situation with North Korea.

North Korea’s Foreign Minister, Ri Yong Ho, says President Asshat declared war on North Korea when the President warned, in his United Nations speech, they "won't be around much longer" if they acted on their threats. 

Minister Ri Yong Ho statement:

"The whole world should remember it was the U.S. who first declared war on our country. Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to make countermeasures, including the right to shoot down United States strategic bombers even when they are not inside the airspace border of our country. The question of who won't be around much longer will be answered then."

Editors Note: As Bubba was reading this post, he says "And he hasn't mentioned ANYTHING about Puerto Rico! Of course, he may not know that Puerto Rico is part of the U.S." Nope, not one word mentioned directly from him; not one single character on Twitter. 

Completely Deficient Policy Making, Cognitive Dissidence or Callous Disingenuousness?

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch “the Deal Maker” McConnell delayed the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) vote, after intra-party support for the Republican plan eroded, thanks to a disastrous CBO score. Apparently, moderate Republicans cannot justify 23 MILLION people losing healthcare.

I was feeling somewhat positive that, perhaps, Senate Republicans would put their big girl panties on, and do the right fucking thing (i.e. work with Democrats) for a change. Then I read this headline: “RNC asked Hillary Clinton where her health care plan is -- and Clinton responded” (CBS News, by way of MSN.Com).

Naturally, I clicked on through to the article, which details Republicans declaring “the U.S. healthcare system is broken,” and demanding Democrats present their plan to fix it. My head exploded.  The Democrats healthcare plan is already in place; it’s called the ACA (“Obamacare”); it's the plan these GOP assclowns have been bitching, moaning about, and calling for its repeal for the last seven years! 

Congressional Democrats and healthcare policy experts agree that the ACA is far from perfect. However, a plan that strips healthcare away from 23 MILLION people— and increases deductibles and premiums for millions more— to pay for tax cuts for 400 super-wealthy families is not A FUCKING IMPROVEMENT! 

Allow me to drop some data on you. A study from the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center finds that nearly 45 percent of the tax cut benefits in the BCRA would go to households making $875,000 or more.  Are you pulling down $875,000 dollars annually? Yeah, me neither! I encourage you to read the entire blog. It is informative, illuminating, and fucking infuriating! Check this out: 

• Average tax cut for households making $55,000-$93,000 annually: $280.  After tax income increase of 0.4 percent.  
• Average tax cut for households making $875,000 or more annually: $45,000. After tax income increase: 2.5 percent. 

What the actual fuck? How do these motherfuckers keep getting elected?

Here’s an inconvenient truth for congressional Republicans: affordable healthcare significantly improves people’s lives, and now that people have it, they’re not fucking giving it up. A few examples:

• In Indiana — the 7,000-plus responses Indiana Republicans received from residents sharing positive stories about how Obamacare made their particular health concerns more manageable. Indiana Republicans received this “flood” of pro-ACA responses after asking for "Obamacare Horror Stories" on the Indiana GOP's Facebook page.
• In Arkansas — dozens demonstrated, urging U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton and John Boozman to oppose the Senate Republican health care bill.
• In Texas — 150 protestors shout “Shame on Ted” in protest of Sen. Ted Cruz’s support of BCRA.
• In Washington D.C. — demonstrators descended on the home offices of 24 Republican senators Thursday, demanding legislators oppose the Senate bill repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Research suggests that repealing the ACA will result in people dying. Conservatively, if 20 million Americans lose their coverage, 43,956 people will die EVERY YEAR). Regardless of how much Republicans want to convince us otherwise, BCRA is not an improvement over the ACA; it is not an improvement over the House’s American Health Care Act (AHCA). BRCA is bad policy. BCRA is bad for most Americans. 

What Kind of Country?

It’s been a few weeks since I posted something political; I’ve been working through what I wanted to say.  While I remain disgusted about what’s going on in Washington, I also am exhausted by it. Maintaining that much rage and anger take A LOT of energy, and I’ve run out of steam. Here’s the thing: EVERYONE is sick to death of talking about politics. But I am sad; I am afraid for future generations of children born in the U.S. I am not hopeful for the country we will leave behind.

Racism and xenophobia are real issues we must deal with, as they are a continuing threat to our public integrity and our civil rights. Protectionist trade policies damage the U.S. economically. Isolationist practices—such as withdrawing from global agreements—significantly weaken the U.S. position as a global leader and threaten our national security.

So are repeated acts of terror and violence, by whites (today’s mass shooting in Orlando, FL) and by people of color who do not follow the true path of Allah (Manchester and London). These weaken our social bonds and drive us to fear and hate our fellow man.

We also must address the increasing wealth inequality, and the socio-economic damage it is causing this nation. Life in the U.S. will continue to get harder for people not born into extraordinary wealth—regardless of their race, religion, sexual or gender orientation.

It will get harder for children to do better than their parents.

Harder for average families to send their children to college, without burdening those children with crippling post-secondary educational debt.

Harder for people to get the medical care they need, and harder for people to find houses they can afford.

Harder for people to find jobs that pay them a living wage, and harder for people to commute to those jobs in a manner that does not leave them anxious and exhausted from a multi-hour, traffic-jammed trip home.

Harder for people to retire, and harder for people to live the remainder of their lives with dignity and grace.

We are hurting; we are afraid; we do not believe that our government understands or cares about the needs of the people which it governs. And this president’s nationalist rhetoric provides no relief, no hope; it amplifies our pain, fear, and anger. It makes the issues we face as a nation so much worse.

Some idealize the U.S. of the recent past as glorious, epic and prosperous. For some, it was, but for others this past America was anything but dreamy. More of us can prosper; more of us can thrive. 

I ask you this: if you could make this country anything you wanted, what sort of country would you build? What kind of country do you want to leave your children, and your grandchildren? 

Wait...Aren't You The 'Russia Bad' Guys?

Wow, is there some crazy scary shit happening right now in Washington D.C. or what? I was fully prepared to rant about the firing of James Comey, and why it was so, so fucking wrong. Then I listened to the latest episode of Pod Save America yesterday morning, and my whole rant changed.

Senator Mark Warner (D-VA and Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee) dropped in to talk about the troubling (troublesome, if you are Trump) happenings over here in our little ‘swamp.'

Full disclosure: Senator Warner is SpazzieGirl’s senator, and I most certainly voted for him.

Sen. Warner shared several highly disconcerting things about Russia and the Putin government's commitment to carrying out cyberwar attacks against western liberal democracies. Things that made me consider Russia’s activities in a broader (i.e. non-U.S. exclusive) perspective.

Putin’s government (it is not the Russian people, folks, let us be clear) has not just mucked about in our presidential election —it also has mucked about with the elections in France and Germany, using the same tactics of bots and fake news. Putin does not just want to destabilize the U.S., but NATO entirely, so Putin’s government can then do whatever the fuck it wants in Eastern Europe. By “whatever,” I mean roll tanks into the former Soviet bloc countries and rebuild the Russian empire. And as Sen. Warner pointed out, software is magnitudes cheaper to build than an aircraft carrier and affords Putin a much greater return his investment.

Make no mistake: we are at war, people, and our President is an agent of the adversarial foreign power that attacked us.

And what does Congress —our democracy’s safety net; one of three “checks and balances” that is supposed to protect and defend our Constitution— have to say about all this mess? FUCK ALL! The Republicans are a bunch of craven, cowardly, collaborating motherfuckers, who are so desperate to push through massive tax cuts for their lords and masters— and take healthcare away from 24 million people by 2021— they're hiding in the metaphorical bushes, yelling "Cut off those lights!"

What more evidence do we need that these people do not care about the American people?  It is all about the money, folks, and until Trump starts costing them serious money, Republicans will refuse to fight for our democracy.