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Get the cemetaries ready, and fire up the furnaces.. There's going to be a LOT of dead people coming! I wonder if I'll have enough money left for my creamation? What Irony - They used to call Obamacare, "death care"..
The vast majority of Trumps base Got screwed today by the Republican Congress tax vote. They are on the path to making the 1% more wealthy at their expense.
Yes, Tom. It really is tragic that a huge number of well to do people in this country do not care if children, disabled and poor do not have healthcare if it involves costing them a cent while they drive around in their Mercedez or Cadillac, with children in choice prep schools or Ivy League Universities, and whine that they have to pay any taxes at all. Their logic is to delegitimize the unfortunate, blame the poor for not making enough money as they attempt to do away with any minimum wage. A really pitiful example of brotherly love from a lot of folks who care only for themselves and claim to be good Christians.
This is a very risky move by the GOP when one looks at the temprement in the USA today. You can fool some of the people mainly GOP voters for awhile but when the steep bills come in for healthcare for their parents. That is going to be like a huge electric shock to them.
The GOP has set this up for a very harsh response when you consider how they have pushed their voters with fear and then sided with NRA for them to have all the guns they want. We just might be watching the beginnings of an American revolt against the elite in the GOP.
Remember it happened in France and the elite in France ,like the GOP of today never saw it coming. But the mood is ripe for it just read the various blogs, news sources and comments on twitter and FB.
This final movement of all new wealth into the off-shore hidden accounts of the 1% will lead to a revolution. We are repeating the circimstances of the Great Depression, except for an ever more select few. Where's FDR when we need a real, patriotic, American President? The current thief-in-chief will be the symbol for the rebellion, as soon as the so far ignorant average American finally sees through the propaganda wall and realizes the truth. God help us!
I agree with DianeR and Jane White and Thom, that Bill and all those 3rd-wayers (Obama, Hillary etc.) could be labeled outsourcers-in-chiefs. However, NAFTA was a creation of the republicans and Ron and H.W. Bill just signed the bill. As Thom says all the so-called trade deals were passed by a majority of the repugs, and opposed by the majority of the dems.
Sit tight. I am sure Thoms entire show Friday will be about the nasty antics of Senator Al Franken and his homophobic and misogynistic antics leading up to his rise from Stuart Smally to angry Senator from Minnesota.
Will Thom call for his resignation?
‘Al Franken kissed and groped me without my consent,’ broadcaster Leeann Tweeden says
Broadcaster and model Leeann Tweeden said Thursday that Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) “forcibly kissed” her and groped her during a USO tour in 2006, saying that “there’s nothing funny about sexual assault.”
“You knew exactly what you were doing,” Tweeden wrote in a blog post for Los Angeles radio station KABC, for which she works as a morning news anchor. “You forcibly kissed me without my consent, grabbed my breasts while I was sleeping and had someone take a photo of you doing it, knowing I would see it later and be ashamed.”
The allegations came two days after a stunning hearing where lawmakers acknowledged sexual harassment is a pervasive problem on Capitol Hill.
In her blog post, Tweeden recalled that Franken “had written some skits for the show and brought props and costumes to go along with them. Like many USO shows before and since, the skits were full of sexual innuendo geared toward a young, male audience.”
Franken, she said, “had written a moment when his character comes at me for a ‘kiss’. I suspected what he was after, but I figured I could turn my head at the last minute or put my hand over his mouth, to get more laughs from the crowd.”
But on the day of the show, she wrote, “Franken and I were alone backstage going over our lines one last time. He said to me, “We need to rehearse the kiss.” I laughed and ignored him. Then he said it again. I said something like, ‘Relax Al, this isn’t SNL … we don’t need to rehearse the kiss.’
In a statement, Franken said: “I certainly don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann.
“As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn’t. I shouldn’t have done it.”
Tweeden’s blog post included an image of Franken looking into a camera, his hands either over or on Tweeden’s chest as she slept.
“The tour wrapped and on Christmas Eve we began the 36-hour trip home to L.A.,” she wrote. “After two weeks of grueling travel and performing, I was exhausted. When our C-17 cargo plane took off from Afghanistan I immediately fell asleep, even though I was still wearing my flak vest and Kevlar helmet.”
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Upon returning to the United States, Tweeden said, she was “looking through the CD of photos we were given by the photographer” when she came across the image. It was not immediately clear who took the photo.
Franken, an Air America radio host at the time of the alleged incident, was elected to the Senate two years later, in 2008.
Leaders of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Franken’s home state colleague, also didn’t immediately respond to inquiries. She is co-sponsor of a bill unanimously approved by the Senate last week that will mandate sexual harassment training for all senators and their staffs.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) announced that the House will adopt a policy change to make anti-harassment training mandatory for all members and staff.
That announcement followed a congressional hearing during which members publicly came to terms with sexual harassment as a pervasive problem on Capitol Hill. Female lawmakers aired tantalizing details, albeit without naming names, of unwanted sexual comments and advances taking place in their midst.
“This is about a member, who is here [in Congress] now. I don’t know who it is, but somebody who I trust told me this situation,” Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) said at the hearing Tuesday.
Harassers have propositioned themselves to staff members by asking: “Are you going to be a good girl?” Some have exposed their genitals to victims. Others have grabbed victims by their private parts on the House floor, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) said.
“In fact, there are two members of Congress, Republican and Democrat, right now, who serve, who have not been subject to review but have engaged in sexual harassment,” said Speier, who has been pushing for years to make anti-harassment training a requirement.
In a Facebook post last month, as sexual assault accusations began to mount against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, Franken applauded the bravery of the women who shared their stories.
“It takes a lot of courage to come forward, and we owe them our thanks,” he wrote. “And as we hear more and more about Mr. Weinstein, it’s important to remember that while his behavior was appalling, it’s far too common.”
Lawmakers in recent weeks have come under pressure to improve the workplace culture on the Hill amid reports from multiple news outlets, including The Washington Post, of lewd comments, unwanted sexual advances and other examples of sexual misconduct that have plagued Congress for decades. More than 1,500 former congressional employees have signed a letter urging Congress to require anti-harassment training and to overhaul the reporting process, which advocates say is stacked against the victim and designed to protect the institution.
Last week, the Senate for the first time in its history required members and their aides to receive anti-harassment training. The Office of Compliance and the Office of House Employment Counsel currently provide training upon request.
Tweeden said she finally decided to share her story now “because there may be others.”
She wrote:
In 2009, Franken was presented a USO Merit Award to recognize the tours he’d taken overseas to visit troops as well as his visits with wounded soldiers at local military hospitals.
Ed O’Keefe contributed to this report, which is developing and will be updated.
J. Freedom du Lac is the editor of The Post's general assignment news desk. He was previously a Local enterprise reporter and, before that, the paper’s pop music critic.
Lindsey Bever is a general assignment reporter for The Washington Post.
Michelle Ye Hee Lee is a national political enterprise and investigations reporter for The Washington Post.
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Aside from inventing a new version of the cigar humidor, he also gave us NAFTA.
"Bill Clinton’s True Legacy: Outsourcer-in-Chief"
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-white/bill-clintons-true-legacy_b_18...
For years Taiwan banned motorcycles larger than 500cc. In oneof the trade bargains the USA got relief from this (had to give something away to get it) and Harley Davidson set up shop in Taipei. Nice shop. But they sell for about twice what they sell for in the USA due to Tariffs. The USA also got approval to import USA beef into Taiwan. But the Taiwanese people wanted nothing to do with our Growth Hormones etc. Literally demonstrated in the streets. To this day beef has labeling as to where it is from (most Australia) and how it was fed.
Patriarchy's brought us to The Brink.
Not at all sad to see it die, along with its ugly 1st cousin, racism.
Perhaps we can get along with Living -- healing this Planet, ourselves ... after all.....
I more than agree with you, 2950-10K, that Amy should anchor every newscast that exists. She is so good I can barely gather enough courage to listen to her.
Thom seems to be pure genius with anything that does not involve math. I say that because a little math would show that the VAT is not like a tariff. The VAT does look just like a tariff. However, it does not protect jobs and is regressive. A few months back Thom had a caller from Great Britain (I think a US citizen) who pointed out that the VAT does not protect jobs and is regressive. Thom agreed. I said to myself great now he will stop saying a VAT is like a tariff. For a while Thom did not make that inaccurate comparison, but eventually Thom came back to saying that a VAT is like a tariff.
I try to imagine how I can point this out. The best I can come up with probably won't work. My current explanation would be to imagine a country with low wages and loose regulations. Assume that country had a VAT of 10%. Currently, goods from that country would have 10% reduction if imported into the U.S. If the U.S. introduced a 10% VAT, there would be no 10% reduction on imports from that country. However, the goods produced in the U.S. would cost 10% more. Therefore, we would still be competing against lower wages and loose regulations.
My request is for someone on this blog to make that point explainable to Thom.
Certainly the American worker has been against free trade from day one, but helpless to stop it. Free trade like unending war are both Fascist creations.
Allowing individuals like the Kochs to amass wealth to the extent were they have more power than our own govenment is the problem. This kind of wealth and power has monopolized the media and thus controls the message. When truth in reporting died, so did our modern day democracy. What we need is an Amy Goodman anchoring every network newscast. Foxaganda has done far more damage than most realize.
Pre-Reagan tax rates would have prevented much of this concentration of wealth and thus Fascist power.
We allowed our manufaturing to move overseas because corporations like GE wanted it. They paid the government and got what they wanted. They saw low cost employees and could ship products virtually tax free. In essence this was shipping slavery overseas to low paying countries. New tax plan is also bought and paid for.
We need politicians that are not there just to get rich from contributions from the folks that want to export our jobs so they can get even richer! What IS wrong with us, that we tolerate this? The Reagan era was fraught with "hostile takeovers" and raiding pensions, etc. Americans put up with it and say "Well that's just Capitalism"...usually because they're happy they can collect unemployment, because working for these greedy bastards has become so horrible! I'm collecting Social Security this year, I'm DONE with Capitalism! I, HATE it! And all the greedy bastards that like it!
Thom raised the question yesterday about what we pay out of pocket in Canada for healthcare.
Generally, there are zero such costs for doctors visits, hospital visits and stays, ambulance services, etc.
In Ontario, for examaple, businesses over a certain size pay an approx 2% Employer Health Tax. Healthcare is funded from general tax revenue, both provincial and federal. Each province administers its own system, and receives transfer payments (i.e. block grants) from the federal govt for health care, education, infrastrucure, etc.
Doctors bill the provincial agency for their services, at a precribed rate. Participation is mandatory (i.e. no opting out).
Dental, vision, and drugs are not covered yet, but there is discussion about such ongoing, especially to better control rising drug prices. Even so drugs cost a fraction of the US cost.
In Ontario, seniors pay at most $100 per year for their drugs. Low income seniors (under $19,300) only pay a $2 dispensing fee.
Having lived in both Canada and the US, the quality of medical service is comparable. There are virtually no wait times, unless for an elective procedure (e.g. knee replacement surgery). Biggest difference is that in Canada, we do not worry about the cost of healthcare, and are more free to seek better more interesting employment, or start new businesses. We do not have the perverse notion of paying more when you lose your job (Cobra) though no fault of your own.
We are deeply grateful for the system we have here, and would not ever want an American-style system.
Remember the tribal member in "Little Big Man" who rode his horse backwards among many other behavioural quirks? Certainly wasn't ostracized--and this was in the '70's.
Thoughtful, Thom. Have you read Marija Gimbutas, Merlin Stone, or the Goddess literature? I've studied this transitioon from what was certainly a matriarchal pimordial human condition to "patriarchy", as a result of having collected the largest collection of Ice-age "Venus" figurines in private hands. 400 of these carved female sculptures are known, but only a small number are carved from stone and intact. The most famous is the well dated Venus of Willendorf, located in her own classical wooden temple in the Austrian Natural History Museum in Vienna. No men have been found. They are all fecund females and of a type, dated from 40-15 thousand years old. Many Native American tribes were and are matriarchal, including the much studied Iroquois. When we think about it, who was left to protect the home camp of ancestral hunter-gatherer clans when the men were out hunting or protecting borders? The women were forced by circumstance to band together to defend the camp from predators or interlopers, "keep the home fire burning", raise the helpless children, care for the elderly, etc. Thus, they spent time talking and planning, which was critical to the survival of the clan. Furthermore, the human voice, as well as the fire, kept the plentiful prey animals at bay, as they would otherwise have over-run the site and had our ancestor's children for lunch. As a result of this ecological necessity women banded together and were the brains of the clan, aside from their craft and cooking contributions which continue to this day. Thus, women were honored with the earliest human portable art: the Venus figurines. Gimbutas believed, as a result of her extensive archaeological digs in the Balkans and Greece, that men in the Eurasian Plain domesticated the wild horse and gained ascendency over women, whence they rode into peaceful, matriarchal old Europe and took control, establishing our current tradition of Patriarchy. This is the story I have come to believe from my pretty extensive researches on the subject. Patriarchy demands separation of women and domination of women, which was not their experience in prehistory or in many hunter-gatherer clans today. Necessity is the Mother of invention, and explains the matriarchy to patriarchy shift that Gimbutas dates at about 2,500 BC, thanks to the Kurgan (Keurgane?) warriors from the Steppes. Thanks for your insights!
ikeberltersen - Yes! Thank you for articulating this topic much better than I would have been capable of. Let us also not forget President Cheney's classic line, "Deficits don't matter...*"
* unless a Democrat is in the Oval Office.
This page just gets worse and worse. If you want to post nonsense go to Yahoo "COMMENTS". If you are a Fox nut go to Fox News comments. Or tell me were your regually post so that I can avoid it.
Sweet Jebus! You should realize that you are the only nut case in this conversation.
Are you just visiting from Breitbart or InfoWars? Either that or you're one of those 'both parties are the same' paranoids... probably a libertarian.
We are already polarized and identity politics is in full swing. Try to keep up.
Adopting certain elements from highly successful countries like Norwegia would NOT suddenly throw us into a homogenous crisis. We probably wouldn't even have to all wear the same state approved jumpsuits... at least not the same colors. Capitalism will not disappear. Your fears are unfounded.
That tired talking point about subversives rotting the minds of students is complete nonsense. Truth does have a Liberal bias though. Maybe that bothers you. You don't really make a case for anything. You're just rambling. You should go live in the mountains and create a perfect society.
OMG....Is this really where we are headed, polarization, idenity politics, etc. Progressives continually argue for us to be like Norway....HOMOGENEOUS SOCIETY for the most part. and VERY SMALL. We are 300 million strong and diverse. Humans are just at the apex of evolution. Our DNA is still Cave Dweller strong. I love this "Now, in tribal societies there are different roles for the two genders, and frankly in most tribal societies there's a role of great honor for people who are gay or trans" Maybe the medicine man was performing transgender surgery????
Enough already, what a waste of mental energy. Men and Women are different but both are human. SCUM exists because they are also Human, Fucked up Human, but still animals, mamals! I would worry when Dolpin argue for the right to vote....
I am so amazed at how dumb society is becoming. Universities are peppered with marxists who have brought us to idenity politics and made both women and men humans who live by excuses for their lack of personal responibility. Know one makes Clinton, Trump, Weinstein, Wiener, etc. make choices that are cruel and degrading to their female human equals. But if you are a Republican, you suck, Democrats get a pass for awhile. The USA will go the way of Rome and all other great societies. The Government will eventually turn on it's own and all will perish. Mother Nature and the Universe will survive. As Humans, we are doomed. Glad I will be gone when it all starts to really decay. This is very depressing. I think the USA should break up into small countries of cupcakes and softies. Living on nuts and weeds. I will be watching from the next life.
Best of luck to all you nut cases.
Riverplunge is correct, we should be talking about the massive tax break for Fascists.
I'll do it.....The ACA is under attack again via the Senate attaching partial repeal of it to their piece of crap anti-american legislation.
Why do "creeps" like Trump and Roy Moore get a pass on rape by their supporters? After Crooked Donny openly admitted to sexual assault, not to mention raping his own wife, how can we doubt the rape of a 13 year old at Jeff Epstein's place in 1994? This is just as credible as all the other charges flying around these days. I believe Jane Doe, and figure she probably got a large sum of money to make it all go away during Trump's crooked campaign.
Roy Moore was such a 30 some year old creep, he got kicked out of his local mall for stalking female kids. Yes, 14 to16 year old girls are kids.
How many women came forward with sex assault allegations against Trump, 16, or more???? Yet many women still voted for him which means they also voted against there own sex.
Oh I forgot, Dems never go on offense! Ok, lets talk about Clinton's consensual blow job with another adult.