CHAOS
As I was reading the headlines this morning I kept uttering “My God,” over and over. Here are the headlines in the Washington Post just today (Note: I refuse to use his name; these are actual headlines, not mine):
Trump’s budget seeks deep cuts
Plan calls for reductions in spending for science, diplomacy and the poor
In Trump’s first fiscal blueprint, echoes of Reagan ’81
Trump seeks $1.5 billion to start building border wall. Key GOP senators are skeptical.
Federal judge halts Trump travel ban hours before it was to take effect
Trump admits his Obama wiretapping accusations were based on some news reports, not solid evidence
Tillerson says diplomacy with North Korea has ‘failed,’ time for new approach
Grassley accuses Justice Department officials of withholding information in Trump-Russia probe
GOP lawmakers expected to propose revisions to health plan
Finally, some good news: Dutch anti-Islam leader Geert Wilders fizzles in elections
The ONLY word that can describe what’s going on in Washington is CHAOS. We have a combed over spray tanned bully wreaking havoc on our government, on our press, on our former president, on our society, and on common decency. In response to this rolling train wreck of an administration, a new commercial effort has sprung up and I was one of the first to buy:
If the acronym is not obvious, it stands for Impeach The M….F…. Already.
Sorry, Momma.
Remember all those bumper stickers in the early 70s that said, “Don’t blame me; I voted for McGovern”? I’d like the modern equivalent, please.
1https://www.amazon.com/Blame-HILLARY-Bumper-Sticker-clinton/dp/B01N3TU39Q
2DT wants all the eggs in his nest. Cut all budgets except the one for the military budget over which he is the commander-in-chief. Don’t have a State Department as that Secretary of State will soon enough be the Oil Oligarch for Putin.
3And Paul Ayn Ryan has been planning on establishing his base in favorable tax rates for the mega rich, then he will defeat trump in next primaries.
If there are any.
If we had an organized and effective leader of the Party he might be saying things to the Right Wing about who will have to answer for all this. Witness the response to their version of a new healthcare plan, the only thing they respect is the prospect of being turned out in the next election.
I think it’s all a plot by liberals to make the black guy look good. And its working. He even makes ‘W’ look good.
4Keep your eye on the legislation that is passing through Congress. Do not get distracted by the loud and shiny or in this case orange thing. The Prez’s budget is pretty much DOA.
5@Daniel
+1 for
“Witness the response to their version of a new healthcare plan, the only thing they respect is the prospect of being turned out in the next election.”
Folks will see THIS again!
6@ el jefe
7Gracias!
And what do you want to bet that the good news out of Holland is a direct result of all the headlines pouring out of this country?
Keep it up, 45 and minions, you’re the most effective cautionary tale we can offer Europe — and THEY will lead the rest of us away from the abyss 45 wants so desperately to drag us into.
8I just finished reading my daily online WaPo. It was chock full of excellent reporting and commentary. And depressing as hell. No health care. No social programs to help the elderly and poor. No medical research (hey, if we don’t have health care, we don’t need research to make people well or prevent disease, right?). No science funding (about that weather satellite and prediction modelling, there is no climate change so we don’t need it). Eric Harris’ op ed on what it’s like answering phones in his Congresswoman’s office is excellent (keep calling). Philip Bump’s perspective on a day in the life of a poor American under Trump’s proposed budget should make any low income Trump supporter think again. Chaos indeed.
This morning I noticed for the first time the subheading under the Washington Post title. “Democracy Dies in Darkness”. How long has that been there????
9Meals on Wheels????? Heartless bastards.
10The front page should have the headline “TRUMP MAKES AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” and then have all these articles underneath it one right after the other.
11Is it too early to point out that massive cuts in government spending, especially spending that goes to people who spend it in turn, will likely trigger the Trump Recession?
Our economy is based on three sources of spending: government, business and personal. If any one is drastically cut, the other two go down.
For example, less money going to ordinary people for health care means they will have less money to spend. The businesses they would have spent at will have less money. They will have to cut back. If people lose their jobs, they will spend less.
There will also be less tax money going to the various governments, pressuring them to spend less. It’s a downward spiral.
The fact that the Repubs will respond by demanding austerity and further cuts to government spending is bad news. Let’s at least make sure they can’t blame it all on Obama.
12Pardon me for a moment and a half. I am not going to go ballistic over the “health care” rewrite. It simply does not have the legs to get through the Senate alive. I am going to concentrate on the reduction of the State Department budget. That’s bad enough, right off the top. Y’all know that it wiil go through the committee gauntlet on the HIll Now turn to the page on security for our embassies and consulates all over the world. That’s right. Now see how much/little has been allotted. They will all be lucky to get enough $$ to replace the burnt out light bulbs over the back door. And the Benghazi crowd won’t say a mumbling’ word! They will all have that blank stare that is supposed to denote the innocent. Yuck, yuck, wwwwww!
13I bought the t-shirt. Proceeds go to ACLU and PP.
14Orange Foolius has the dumbest budget since Reagan with a few baubles of dastardly added by Lyin’ Ryan. Cut all social programs that benefit children and the elderly. Slash anything that could be considered diplomatic. Screw the environment to give welfare benefits to King CONG (coal, oil, nuclear & gas.) Your basic slash and burn program to reward the .01% with even more tax cuts.
Meanwhile Donnie demonstrates his business ‘prowess’ bankrupting the USA like he did his own ventures. He must have slept through his accounting classes at Wharton given what he wants to give the Pentagon. Brilliant plan giving more $billions to an organization that has never submitted an accounting of their expenditures. If Congress had half a clue, it would demand an accounting and decrease military spending by 10% every year, until the Pentagon demonstrates accountability for their budget.
15Now this is not final yet, folks– Congress gets to rip it all up and put it back together first. Of course they’re now a majority of ravening yahoos, so it won’t get much better, but they do have government spending in all their districts that they won’t want to cut off.
Fenway Fran, the WashPost adopted “Democracy dies in darkness” as a motto and started printing it on their heading about a week ago. It’s gotten some WTF comments.
Worst thing for me is slashing EPA by 31%, zeroing funds to heal the Chesapeake Bay, zeroing NASA’s budget for climate science monitoring, cutting anything environmental to the bone or zero….
And we all know why he’s boosting the military budget. President Chickenhawk is determined to win a war.
16Healthcare, food, diplomacy are absolutely paramount but just to illustrate how absurd this all is let me parse the futility of doing away with all the arts and culture departments. Since I’m a Texan I’m using that example. (If you’d like to see the funding for your state go here: http://www.aam-us.org/advocacy/state-snapshots )
17Total combined NEH, NEA, and IMLS funding to Texas for the years 2014-2016 was $11,292,000. According to census.gov as of July 1, 2016 the population of the great state of Texas was 27,862,596. I’ve done the math for you (you’re welcome!) it comes out to 40.5 cents per person over that two year stretch or (let’s round up, shall we) 21 cents a year per person.
Anybody have the figure on how much has been spent since January 20 of this year so 45 can play golf in his gilded Florida palace? Somehow I’m thinking it might be in the ballpark of funding the arts and humanities for the entire state of Texas for two years. So just imagine if 45 would just quit flying around to his personal pleasure dome and various fascist rallies, people throughout the country would still be able to go to a historic home, museum, maybe attend the performing arts event of their choice.
On the other hand, not at all seeing how the paltry arts/humanities budget much helps the military. In a tangential comparison, someone on the radio this morning pointed out that the entire Corporation for Public Broadcasting budget wouldn’t even pay for the military’s dry-cleaning bills. I totally get that NEA, NEH, IMLS, and CPB are tiny drops in the ocean of the USA budget and, yeah, no one’s gonna immediately die if they’re gone. But if all it takes is a tiny bit of effort to maintain our cultural heritage then surely it can’t take much more than a medium effort to keep people healthy, fed, and safe from the world blowing up.
LynnN: I nominate YOU for Congress! What a clear-headed, straight-foward, and concise explanation of how our (or any major country’s) economy works! WELL DONE!
Don’t anyone tell me we don’t have qualified people to run our country. I can field at least a dozen from the commenters at this salon.
18Cannot add to what y’all have said.
19I did however order ten of the ITMFA buttons for $10. Plan to send them to friends. Wearing mine on my pink pussy cat hat with cute little pussy cat ears.