Tag: republican

Congressional Recess? You Have Got To Be Kidding!

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All we have been hearing from Democrats and Republicans alike is how essential it is that we deal with the coronavirus outbreak. The President addressed the nation from the Oval Office last night and laid out what he is proposing to deal with both the health and socioeconomic effects of this pandemic. Democrats worked through the night to come up with their plan, which of course, is a different approach to the problem. That’s okay; that is our system. Logically the next step is for the two sides to come together and come up with something productive.

Republicans, for their part, have no proposal of their own prepared for debate. They got a good night’s sleep last night because tomorrow Congress is going on a scheduled recess. Seriously? The NBA has suspended the season, and the NCAA tournament is going to be played in front of empty arenas, if at all. Many functions that involve gatherings of large numbers of people are being canceled. The public is becoming increasingly alarmed, and general panic is a genuine possibility if testing reveals a substantial increase in the number of coronavirus cases. And Congress is going on recess?

No, I’m sorry. We are being asked to give up a lot more than a few days off. So you can keep your overpaid, elitist, entitled, and arrogant butts right in those taxpayer-funded seats until you pass a bill for the President to sign freeing up money and putting measures into effect to deal with this crises.

The Liberal Argument Part I

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A friend recently posted on Facebook some arguments that are out there concerning the current situation. It was a quite reasoned and well thought out argument, one you used to be able to have before the discourse in this country devolved into that between entrenched warring factions rather than anything resembling civilized, intelligent discussion. So this is an attempt to respond in kind. 

The first point she makes is that the stock market has zero to do with any President. That is only true in the sense that the Stock Market does not care who the President is. Wall Street donates heavily to both political parties, and there have been bull markets and bear markets in both Democratic and Republican Administrations. What the market does care about is the state of the economy and, as such, is an indicator of how that economy is doing. Indeed, it is not the only indicator, but it is a legitimate one. It is also a place where millions of Americans invest their hard-earned money through 401k’s, IRAs, and the like. So to say that the stock market has nothing to do with the lives of most Americans is not valid.

While conceding that the unemployment rate is low, my friend mentions that she knows several people who cannot pay their rent or mortgages on their salary. I have struggled with money my whole life and will likely continue to do so until they close the lid on the box. But my issues with money have much more to do with my own decisions and mistakes than with anything that was done to me. We also live in NYC where everything is more expensive, so even making what would be considered a good salary elsewhere is barely subsistence level here, especially with the cost of housing. 

All that being said, sure people are taken advantage of, paid less than what they are worth, or what they need to live. But we do not live in a caste system here. If the economy is good and unemployment is low, but we are not able to pay our bills then maybe its time to try something else. I am not judging anyone but expecting wages to magically go up just because it would be fair, well it will be a long and disappointing wait. Having the government impose unrealistically high minimum wages on entry-level jobs inevitably causes unemployment.  It does not matter what any job pays if that job does not exist.

It’s Springstein! It’s Bon Jovi! No! It’s Donald Trump!!!

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Folks, this is Wildwood, NJ. In January. This scene is deep in the heart of a reliably Blue State in January. Bi-partisan incompetence in the State House keeps the governorship see-sawing back and forth between the major parties, but it has been decades since NJ glowed red on presidential election night. These were not 100,000 diehard, redneck, good old boy, Texas Republicans. There had to be a lot of Democrats in that crowd. And that’s got to scare the powers that be in the Party to death.

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Condoleezza Rice shuts down NBC anchor’s question on whether Russia helped Trump win


Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told an NBC anchor Wednesday it was not accurate to suggest that Russia flipped the 2016 election in President Trump’s favor. “I don’t think there is any evidence of that. And, you know, I really don’t think that’s a good conversation to have,” she told NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie. Guthrie had just asked whether Russian interference “actually worked” and blocked a victory by former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Read the rest and watch  the video here.

Is the Electoral College fair or a scam as @aoc contends?

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The genius of the electoral college-and the make-up of the Senate for that matter-is that it helps to prevent a tyranny of a concentrated majority imposing their will on a widely diverse country. With States Rights being increasingly eroded by the tendency to legislate through regulation in Washington, which will likely pick up steam again one President Trump leaves office, it is really the only remaining protection smaller population states have against the tyranny of an elitist class in DC, California and New York inflicting their will, values and opinions on he rest of the country.