March 26, 2017

Is ICE Targetting Immigrant Business Owners for Deportation in Hopes of Getting Bribes?

Someone has to ask it. There have been too many cases like this one recently. Long time resident immigrant business owner (employees 20 workers) with no criminal history at all (except overstaying his Visa) with a US born wife and three US born children suddenly hauled off to jail and threatened with deportation to a country he left twenty years ago.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/03/25/she-thought-trump-would-deport-bad-hombres-instead-hes-deporting-her-law-abiding-husband/?hpid=hp_hp-cards_hp-card-national%3Ahomepage%2Fcard&utm_term=.204fc74dc7da

No way this is a "bad hombre." However, he is an hombre with some money. Which begs the question--how many of these hard working immigrants are getting the shake down?

It is time someone started putting wires on immigrants during their interactions with immigration agents. Better yet, let's do a little undercover journalism, have reporters pretend to be immigrants with assets. I will bet that it will take less than a week to catch someone in federal law enforcement demanding money. Because Trump's self styled outlaw base thinks that shaking down hard working business owners for money is a legitimate way to make a living if they can get away with it. And now, thanks to their Bandit King Trump, they can get away with it.

Donald Trump--making America safe for con men, loan sharks, heroin dealers and rapists.

March 25, 2017

Why Do the Koch Brothers Hate Ryan and Trump?

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/22/politics/kochs-reserve-fund-health-care/

With just a few days to go until the (politically) crucial vote to eliminate the Affordable Care Act and replace it with Affordable Care Lite, the Koch Brothers muddied the waters by offering millions in campaign support to any GOP legislator who voted “no.” How many voted “no” for the money? We will never know. What we do know is that the attack on Trump-care was a direct attack on both Trump and House Speaker Ryan---who is now facing pressure from his own party to step down from his position as House Speaker and as third in line to be president…

Is this what it’s all about? VP Pence is the Koch Brother’s man. Bought and sold. The Koch Brothers would like nothing better than to oust the unpredictable, likely-to-go-rogue Trump and replace him with their own (bought and sold) president.



But, despite his See No Evil/Hear No Evil game, Pence may not be as out of the loop on Russia/Trump as he claims to be. He may go down with Trump. In which case Speaker Ryan gets to be president. Does Speaker Ryan want to be president? Uh..yeah. At least according to this campaign button from 2016.



As House Speaker, any attempt to force Trump out via impeachment or (more likely) threat of impeachment will go through him. Everyone except Trump—and that includes most of the GOP and the Koch Brothers and maybe even Melania—wants Trump out of Washington. But, as Speaker, Ryan has the power to include Pence in the eviction from the White House order. And, if he does it, he gets to be president!
The Koch Brothers do not want Paul Ryan to be president. The Koch Brothers want Mike Pence to be president. That means they want the House Speaker to be someone who will stand up for Pence’s right to be the Koch Brand President.

Will Paul Ryan get the message? Or, will the Koch Brothers have to replace him with someone with less ambition? This, my friends is the real reason the Koch Brothers sabotaged the Affordable Care Act repeal.

The Republican Party---shooting itself in the foot (and sometimes the face) for over a century!

March 19, 2017

Medicaid Block Grants and Citizens United Will Be the Death--Literally---Of Trump's America

Get ready, Trump supporters. You are about to see your income plunge, your medical (and legal)expenses rise and your family torn apart. By the man who claimed he would improve upon the Affordable Care Act. How will it happen?

Medicaid Block Grants and Citizens United.

Why does the GOP have such a hard on for "Medicaid block grants"? The same young women will need obstetric care, the same old people will need nursing home care, the same indigent-due-to-chronic-illness patients will need ongoing medical care so that they do not die in the streets where Baron Trump might see them and get nightmares from the experience---

But that is common sense. Forget common sense. In the world of the GOP, health care spending is not intended to keep human/people healthy. Health care spending exists to keep corporation/people healthy. Indeed, all public spending is intended to enrich the already rich---call it a Poor Tax, except that in the United States the lower 99% are considered "poor" and therefore expendable.

Give states like Alabama a big chunk of cash and tell them "Spend this the way you want" and lobbyists will immediately line up at the door of the state's (GOP) officials handing out money in exchange for even larger amounts of public money.

Here is Medicaid spending as it is now.

http://kff.org/medicaid/state-indicator/distribution-of-medicaid-spending-by-service/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D

How will that change under block grants? Here is a list of spending by health care lobbyists by industry:

http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/top-20-healthcare-lobbyists-by-spending.html

Number one (no surprise) is the American Medical Association. Yes, doctors will continue to get paid--or no one will make any money from Medicaid because they control the prescription pads. Now scroll on down the list. Note that Big Pharm spends a lot more lobbying each year than doctors, if you lump all the companies together. Big Pharm hates Medicaid at the moment because it negotiates for lower prices. Combine Citizens United with Medicaid Block Grants, and suddenly a much larger chunk of our health care spending will go towards paying for $700 Epipens. Leaving less for pregnant women's prenatal care and Grandma's nursing home--two things which Trump's base rely upon.

Health insurers spend a lot on lobbying, too. If red states get Medicaid Block Grants, a big chunk of money will go to insurers for "administrative expenses"--which is code for "doing nothing." Corporate welfare.

Hospitals are on the list. They want to get paid for emergency room care. They will gladly fork over Citizens United money to Republican legislators.

Note who does not have a lobbyist. Your daughter, Darlene, pregnant, uninsured, because she did not think she needed insurance--until the pregnancy test said "positive.". Your mother who went to the nursing home after her stroke. Your son who suffers from bipolar disorder. If the Republicans have their way, your grandchild will be born two months early with cerebral palsy, your wife will have to quit work to stay home with your mother---plunging your family into poverty----and your son will be receiving his health care in prison when he runs out of meds and does something crazy to the neighbor's thirteen year old daughter. The neighbor's girl won't have to worry about obstetrical care, because you'll be paying for that---and child support---in order to get the law to be lenient with your boy. Who wouldn't be in this mess if Alabama had not cut off his psychiatric benefits and sent the money to the U.K. to pay for overpriced Epipens.

Meanwhile, blue states will continue to allocate resources where they are needed, because Democratic elected officials answer to Democratic votes. Blue state daughters will have healthy babies, blue state grannies will have nursing home care, and blue state sons with mental illness will stay on their meds and out of jail. And (because some things never change) in two years, your local Republican politician will get on television and tell you that the reason you are poor, looking after an elderly parent and a disabled grandchild and visiting your son in jail on the weekends is because some (non white) Washington Fat Cat stole your (white) legacy.

What was that? You thought "Medicaid Block Grants" meant that your state would spend money on health care only on white people? Silly rabbit. Your Republican legislator wants you to be poor, hopeless and angry. Only a poor, hopeless, angry person would fall for Trump's lies.

Better luck in your next life.

March 18, 2017

The D.C. Chicken Ranch

Trump for President is a lot like Trump University. Both employed surrogates to lie to suckers----pardon me, potential customers. Both promised the sun and moon in exchange for lots of cash. Trump U. was the beta version of Trump for Prez. So far, we know that Flynn sold promises for money to Russia, Turkey ....and a Pentagon blacklisted air cargo carrier??? WTF???

Who thinks that Flynn was the only one soliciting cash donations? Come on, someone out there must believe that Flynn was the exception, the lone bad apple in a basket of pristine fruit. Anyone? No one?

(Silence)

Let's talk turkey. No, not the country that thought it had Flynn--and Trump---in its pocket. Although...

(Speaking of Turkey, just imagine how utterly pissed the country is to find out that the U.S. has sent in ground forces to support the Kurds in Syria. I am not sure what they wanted from Flynn, but permission to bomb the Kurds to hell was probably high on their list. I do not imagine that Ankara thinks it got value for its dollars or rubles or whatever form of cash it used to bribe Flynn.)

But enough about Turkey. Let's come out and say what everyone, even Trump's Self Styled Outlaw/Make America White Again base knows. Someone obviously collected a lot of money from a contractor to build that stupid wall. From the way Trump clings to the idea, it was probably Trump himself or one of his kids. He can give the boot to folks like Flynn if he finds himself unable to fulfill the favors they sold. But he can't give himself the boot. And he won't leave his kids to defend themselves against crowbar wielding Russian mobsters when they knock on the door at midnight demanding to know why they haven't received the favors they were promised.

What other "favors" will we, the taxpayers be expected to fulfill? How many people had their hands out? How deep--and high does the corruption go?

Flynn knows. Flynn is a criminal. He can be prosecuted and persuaded to talk. No wonder Sessions refuses to resign. Flynn would name him as a fellow co-conspirator--if anyone in the DOJ ever dared attempt to prosecute him, which they won't, not if Sessions has anything to say about it. I will bet that Sessions took money too. Lots of it. Baron will probably turn out to be the only member of the Team Trump that is not dirty.

What about Pence, you say? The man who will be president when Trump gets the boot. The man who sees and hears nothing. Surely he is as clean as his shiny white hair....

But would a clean man use campaign contributions to pay his mortgage? Would a clean man take money in exchange for servicing the Kochs? And yes, I know what you are thinking. Disgusting, right? The idea of Pence on his knees sucking you know what. But face it. That is what Trump and his whole clan are doing. They are providing services for money to anyone who can pay. Just picture the whole family, including Ivanka and Melania and Donald himself down on their knees on the White House lawn, and that's what we've got. A great big Washington D.C. Chicken Ranch----

Cluck, cluck.

March 18, 2017

Is Trump Stashing Away Cash in Russia in Preparation for Running Away From DC?

The question must be asked. He and his silver spoon kids seem to be making illegal, unethical business deals right and left, in clear violation of the law. The only explanation I can come up with is that he is planning to sneak out of Washington in the middle of the night in order to escape responsibility for the mess he has created---and he plans to rake in as much money as possible before he goes.

I have always suspected that he was not really trying to win. If he expected to win, why did he make so many ludicrous promises--like cheap, all inclusive health care for his entire base? Give me a break! Even an idiot knew that could not happen. I think he was just pretending to run and never expected to be forced to deliver on his promises---and then Putin and Exxon got together and said "We want value for all that money we have squandered on Trump. We'll steal the election. Then he will have to give us what we want---or we'll show the world the golden showers tapes."

Since Trump knows his days are numbered, literally anything goes. He will abuse the power of his office to sell weapons to anyone who can give him cash.He will accept foreign bribes to put U.S. soldiers on the ground in any conflict---none of HIS kids will have to fight or die. He will aid financiers as they break the law and steal the pensions from orphans and widows. He will raid the federal tax coffers in order to pay people to do things like build shitty walls that will fall down in the first hurricane, and prisons for immigrants that will never be used, and bridges to nowhere and back---and he will collect a generous commission on each bogus transaction.

Face it, America. Trump is Harold Hill. He has sold you a marching band that will never play--except in the deluded imaginations of the Make American White Again crowd who will always remain convinced that Trump could have been a great president if he had just been given a chance.

=

March 12, 2017

The Republican Party is Up Sh*t Creek---and They Expect Democrats to Paddle for Them

Congressional Republicans are screwed. They are up shit creek without a paddle. They have been handed shotguns and told to aim at their own feet and pull the trigger (a sport that the GOP seems to love even more than race baiting).

Congressional Republicans are facing a dilemma. If they satisfy their base and repeal the Affordable Care Act, millions of American will suddenly find themselves uninsured or under insured. Many of these millions voted for Trump because he promised them better insurance not worse insurance. They will take out their frustration at the polls in 2018, and Congressional Republicans will suffer. On the other hand, if they do not repeal the ACA, their own base will stay home in disgust---and anti-Trump voters will flip Congress in 2018.

The political damage is going to be huge. Much worse than the Clinton Impeachment that cost Newt Gingrich his career in 1998. What the hell are they gonna do?

They will do what they have done since the beginning of time---blame Democrats.
Here’s their strategy from the NYT:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/11/us/politics/republican-health-law-repeal-strategy.html

Republican leaders have made no effort to hide the strategy. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan spoke at length this past week about a three-stage effort: First, with only Republican votes, repeal major parts of the health law and put in place some new provisions. Second, let Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price use regulatory powers to try to stabilize insurance markets. Third, pressure Democrats to help with a series of bills to complete the replacement and change the health care system more to the liking of conservatives.
Why the hell would they brag about a lame ass strategy like “We’ll fuck things up and then blame the Democrats”? Because they are hoping to rally their own Republicans to complete step one---the riskiest step. The one that will put individual Republican Congressmen in the crosshairs in 2018. As in “You took away our ACA insurance and our father/husband/baby died!” That kind of testimony will make for some very nerve wracking Republican Congressional town halls.

Step three is supposed to give Republican members Congress the balls to do what their party bosses tell them to do. And yes, any politician who will do what he or she thinks is the “right thing” only if given the promise that someone else will take the blame is a worthless bottom feeding piece of pond scum---

But I am not here to state the obvious. I am here with a suggestion. Democrats in Congress need to declare right now that Democrats will settle for nothing less than what Trump promised during the campaign. Health care for all. No pre-existing condition clauses. No high deductibles. Pie in the sky. Right now. That is the only bill that Democrats will approve---one that improves upon the ACA in every way.

Let the Republicans put that in their pipe and smoke it.

And yes, I know that it goes against everything that Democrats stand for not to clutch at straws, not to beg for scraps, not to try to "get along" for the sake of one or two Americans who will be allowed to keep their health insurance while millions are dying. Because we think that the needs of the few are just as great as the needs of the many. But trust me, if Democrats try to pull the Republicans out the of the fire, we will be the ones indicted on charges of arson. And those two Americans we thought we could save--they will die anyway. The GOP will see to that. They've got hundreds of ways to kill Americans, from polluted air and water to bad drugs to bad food. No Republican authored ACA replacement will come even close to saving America for what Trump and Putin have planned for it.

March 12, 2017

Sec Health & Human Services Tom Price Calls Millions of Trump Voters "Nobodies"

Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price said on Sunday that he believes "nobody will be worse off financially" under the Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and dismissed a report that millions will lose coverage if it passes.

"I firmly believe that nobody will be worse off financially in the process that we’re going through," Price told Chuck Todd on NBC News' "Meet the Press."

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/tom-price-nobody-will-be-worse-off-financially-ahca

Since millions of Americans will lose their insurance---particularly their Medicaid--and millions more will see their premiums and out of pockets soar---including elderly and retired Americans---Tom Price just called working Americans "Nobody". As in if you are not rich, you do not count to Trump. And that includes millions of Trump voters.

Trump lied when he promised to make health care more affordable. Now he is laughing all the way to the bank, walking on a road paved with the bones of the Americans who will die from lack of health care--many of whom voted for him.

March 10, 2017

Is the American News Media Up to the Task? Will They Be Dan Rather or Judy Miller?

We all know what their task is---publicize the corruption of the Trump regime in order to salvage what is left of American democracy. Not prosecute. Not impeach. All they have to do is spread the word. Are they up to it? Will the individual reporters at the New York Times be able to resist the lure of White House "exclusives"? Or, will we soon see a new generation of Judy Millers? Once Trump and Co. get their act together---no, make that if Trump and Co. ever get their act together---their Bureau of Disinformation under Herr Bannon/Goebbels will begin releasing stories. The stories will be 1) designed to create a smoke screen behind which Trump and Co. can tear up the constitution and deplete the U.S. tax coffers and 2) smear Democratic politicians and candidates in the run up to the 2018 midterm elections. Because the only thing standing between Trump and the I word is the GOP House and Senate. If even one of those two bodies flips in 2018, 2019 will see the start of Congressional hearings that will land Trump and Co. in jail. And Trump and Co. will do literally anything to avoid jail. But to do it, they will need the guys and gals in the press.

What will it be? Beating the Drums of War a la Karl Rove in 2002---the mainstream media went right along with that one---and in the process managed to shut down the Senate Enron hearings. What? You almost forgot about Enron? The biggest criminal conspiracy involving public figures this millennium? You forgot it because the press did not do its job. What was the press doing when the report blaming the Bush administration for collusion in Enron's price gouging of California was released in 2013? It was covering the war in Iraq.

Will the press do it again? Will it allow itself to be distracted by bits of dangling string and shiny trinkets held up by Trump and Bannon? I am afraid they will.

Sigh.

It is time for a new breed of journalist. And by new breed, I mean an old breed. Dan Rather, here's looking at you, kid.

March 8, 2017

A Socratic Dialogue With Trump about Ethics, Politics and Pussy

Socrates and Trump have a dialogue:

Socrates: Since the Bush-Cheney administration, it has been legal for the NSA to intercept the communications of foreigners. Like Russians. When you and your campaign started having secret dealings with Russia, you should have known that you had no right to privacy under current law.

Trump sticks out his lower lip. No one told me about that he whines, sounding, for a moment, exactly like a great big baby.

Ignorance of the law is no defense, Socrates reminds him.

Who are you calling ignorant?

So you knew that U.S. security might be listening in?

Sure. Full of bravado.

And you did it anyway? You conspired with Russia to commit treason even though you knew that the NSA was probably listening? Why?

I figured the NSA would take my side. The way Comey did.

You thought the agency charged with protecting national security would aid you in making this country less secure? Why?

Because we're all members of the same club. Nudge and a wink. You know. White guys.

White guys have been sent to prison before for racketeering and treason.

Not me!, insists Trump. I'm special.

Special? Why so?

I should be exempt from the usual laws.

Why?

Because I was running for president, says Trump. All is fair in love and war and presidential politics. A presidential candidate is exempt from the law.

So if a presidential candidate has his operatives in Russia illegally intercept the communications of his political opponents, there is nothing wrong with that?

That's right. There is no criminal activity when it comes to politics. Anything goes.

And yet, if the U.S. government intercepted your communications with Russia, that's illegal. Why?

Because the investigations were politically motivated!

Socrates reaches his punch line. Smiling, he says :But you just said anything goes in a political campaign. If the NSA was trying to stop your campaign's criminal activity for political reasons, doesn't that make it ok? Because it's political?

At which point Trump's tiny little brain explodes. But amazingly, his fingers continue to tweet furiously, proving what we have suspected all along, there is no connection between Trump's so called mind and what comes out of his mouth (and tiny hands).

(And sorry. I lied about the pussy. I just figured that sex gets more attention than ethics or politics)

March 5, 2017

How Many Members of the U.S. Military Will Die Because of Trump Immigration Policy?

Trump talks big when it comes to the U.S. military. Too bad his actions tell a different story.

Members of the U.S. military stationed in places like Iraq and Afghanistan rely upon friendly locals to drive them, translate for them and--yes---spy for them. You know, warn them in advance when someone is trying to kill them. Help them navigate dangerous waters. In a country where some people think the only good American is a dead American, the aid of locals is all that stands between our troops and death. Trump, in his zeal to appeal to his xenophobic base---the kind of people who will never get out of their Lazy Boys long enough to serve their country---is single handedly tearing apart that safety network.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/04/us/afghan-family-detained-los-angeles-visas.html?_r=0

So, what happens now? Members of Al Qaeda and ISIS and every other group that hates us can approach U.S. allies---drivers, translators and spies---and whisper into anxious ears "You know the U.S. won't keep the promises it made to you. You know that once you have outlived your usefulness, they will abandon you, and you and your wife and all your children will die. Because you can't trust an American. They don't want to save our country. They want to exterminate us all."

Thank you, Trump for showing us exactly how much you value the United States military. Given your world view----that the so called white people of the United States would be better off in an all white Christian world---I am surprised you don't call the troops home and drop nukes on places like Iraq and Afghanistan. It is clear that you have no interest in aiding other countries. You are more concerned about eradicating their citizens. And when those foreign nationals realize your true agenda, they will fight back to defend themselves---and it will be our soldiers who get caught in the cross fire, not you, you miserable draft dodging piece of crap.