George Will’s column in the Washington Post last week was as jolting as it was insightful.  I don’t often describe George Will’s writings with these adjectives since almost every word out of his mouth and keyboard is abhorrent to me.  But we do share a common opinion, and that is of Donald Trump’s utter unfitness for the office of president.  Will’s been vocal and frequent in his criticisms, but in this most recent piece and follow up television appearances, he offers a unique solution to minimizing the damage Trump can inflict on the country: quarantine.  In his piece Will’s argument is this:

“Americans have placed vast military power at the discretion of this mind, a presidential discretion that is largely immune to restraint by the Madisonian system of institutional checks and balances. So, it is up to the public to quarantine this presidency by insistently communicating to its elected representatives a steady, rational fear of this man whose combination of impulsivity and credulity render him uniquely unfit to take the nation into a military conflict.” [emphasis mine]

Will suggests that not only is Trump subject to serious gaffes, historically inaccurate statements, and offensive speech, but, “Rather, the dangerous thing is that he does not know what it is to know something.”  Will argues that not only is he slothful and lacks basic civics knowledge, but lacks the ability to even absorb knowledge.

So, Will puts it on us, the public, to pressure our representatives and senators to quarantine this menace until we can get him out of office.  He wants a bipartisan effort to not cooperate with his agenda; refuse to support his crazy ideas; repudiate his fascination with despots.  Correct him when he blatantly lies.

Perhaps quarantine will stop the epidemic of stupidity and hatefulness now running rampant from DC throughout the country.

Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates is scheduled to testify today about her visit to the White House to warn them about Mike Flynn.

I have no idea what she’s going to say, but I suspect that Donald Trump will not be gleeful.  Sad. The biggest sad ever.

So Trump goes to Twitter this morning and says —

He is accusing her of a felony in his own little backdoor way.

The World’s Most Dangerous Beauty Salon, Inc’s high-faluntin’ legal counsel Junior Janochek, Jr. advised us …

Witness tampering is the act of attempting to alter or prevent the testimony of witnesses within criminal or civil proceedings. Laws regarding witness tampering also apply to proceedings before Congress, executive departments, and administrative agencies.

Trump, of course, offers no proof or even probable suspicion that Sally Yates leaked to the press, but I think she did it while personally driving 3 million undocumented immigrants to polls to vote.

Is anybody keeping a list of impeachable offenses?

Major media is now reporting that, in France, non-establishment but centrist Emanuel Macron has decisively defeated Trump-like, anti-immigrant candidate Marine LePen.  Hacking of Macron’s campaign seems to have had little effect on the outcome.  Is this the beginning of western civilization pulling back from the brink of hate-filled, racist, authoritarianism that peaked with the election of reality television star Donald Trump as president of the US?

Thanks to Alfredo over at the Dairy Queen for the heads up.

After watching the cynical self-congratulatory beer bust in the WH rose garden on Thursday, I found myself not just angry or disappointed; I was enraged.  The arrogant, taunting, narcissistic, boasting Cheeto-skinned parasite currently infesting Our House, along with virtually every gerrymandered-in weirdo and screwball in DC made me want to throw my shoe through the screen.

That rage came alive on Friday morning when, on Facebook, one of my conservative friends expressed frustration with Republicans voting to strip him of his healthcare because of his pre-existing condition. Immediately, one of his more conservative friends responded about how wonderful the new bill was and that it would “help many”.   Enough was enough; I launched on him, pointing out that the bill was rushed through the House without representatives reading it, it wasn’t scored by the CBO, and that early readings by the media were pointing out its legion of flaws, including re-introducing lifetime and annual caps, restoring exclusion of pre-existing conditions, slashing of Medicaid, slashing healthcare for special needs kids, etc., etc.  His defense?  Lying.  Not just spinning, outright lying.

He argued that they caps are not part of the bill when they are.  He argued that health savings accounts would cover the shortfalls (which is laughable; when’s the last time you saw someone pay a $300,000 chemotherapy bill with an HSA?); he argued that this bill was an actual effort to improve healthcare when, in fact, it was just a disguised tax cut.  When challenged, he said, “Well, the bill’s not finished.”  Not finished?  They already voted for it in the House!  They went to the WH and celebrated!

In fact, this last statement was the only thing that he had said that was true…it wasn’t finished.  It still must go to the Senate where it most certainly won’t survive, at least in its current form.  The defense of this bill is built on lies.  It has to, because math is math.  You cut a trillion dollars out of healthcare, and millions will suffer, and no lie justifying it can change that.  You place caps on coverage, people will die.  You exclude pre-existing conditions, people will die.  It’s like gravity; those truths are just there.

So, what was this all about?  That’s easy – it’s Kabuki.  It’s a glittery show for the base voters of this crowd in DC who waste a lot of oxygen trying to meet there demands of erasing President Obama’s name from history regardless of damage to millions of Americans.  I believe that Trump and conservatives in the House realize that the chance of actually repealing the ACA is slim, therefore the shameful display in the rose garden.  With any luck, this will be the only celebration they hold cheering on the deaths of millions of Americans.

I know this came up in the comment section last night, but I just wanna add my Hallelujah to the suggestion that Democrats hold town hall meetings in Republican districts to explain Trumpcare.

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) said “if it takes a Democrat” to explain House Republicans’ healthcare bill, he’s willing to do it.

“Maybe a Democrat ought to go into every district where a Republican who supported TrumpCare won’t hold a town hall meeting, and do it for them,” he said during an interview on MSNBC.

My CongressCon, Pete Olson (yeah, well, he’s never heard of you either), has announced that he’s will willing to hold small roundtable discussions in his local offices with 5 or 6 people.  However, you cannot have a small group with you and your friends.  Ole Pete has got to insure that at least two of his supporters are there – one who has read the bill and the other to stare you down while calling to Jesus to save your immoral soul.

You know how they say that politics is Hollywood for ugly people?  Yeah, well …

In Congress, Pete is rarely distinguishable from the furniture.  But he does whatever Phil Gramm and John Cornyn tell him to do and in exchange he gets a paycheck.

We need a damn Democrat to come here and shame this sucker.  Assuming, of course, that any Republican has an ounce of shame left.