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WE’LL RALLY IN DEFIANCE {a limerick}

The Left won’t sit down in silence

while Trumpsters perpetrate {violence} vi’lence

‘gainst principles long-standing.

‘Gainst our nation’s re-branding

we’ll rally in vigorous defiance.

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Quote from Thom's blog:

Although Trump dropping out of the Paris agreement was something Trump flirted with on the campaign trail, he told the New York Times after his election in November that "he would [at least] keep an open mind about it".

Nobody on the planet, except the Bigot in Chief himself, would describe him as keeping an "open mind."

Of all the many and great sins Republicans have committed against humanity, climate denial is by far the most egregious. And now we have their chosen malignant narcissist who magnanimously promises to grant the world the beautiful gift of his great intellect to decide the issue once and for all, so that the rest of us may scurry about with our lesser lives and not worry about it.

Well, he had better quit playing with his little twitter and hurry up! Humankind is rapidly losing its ability to mitigate the most deleterious effects of the worst disaster ever to threaten life on our "pale blue dot." Once Earth's average temperature reaches critical levels, when the planet begins belching out methane at an uncontrollable rate on a massive scale, it's game over. (Pat Elton #1 is absolutely correct!)

The Holocene extinction, (or what climate scientists are increasingly referring to as the Anthropocene extinction--caused by human activity) is rapidly approaching; in terms of geological time, the rate of the great die-off will be lightening fast. It will be the world's sixth mass extinction event and the deadliest. Most species, including ours, will not survive it.

In fact, it may have already begun. According to a collaborative study, including many prominent universities, published In 2015: https://qz.com/433256/a-mass-extinction-like-that-which-killed-the-dinosaurs-is-threatening-animals-today/

"A group of researches from Mexico and the US wanted to compare the rate of extinctions in the last century to what is known as the “background rate”—the rate at which species have died off in previous centuries. They found that vertebrates, or animals with a backbone, were dying at a rate 114 times faster than the overall background rate for vertebrates, based on a conservative estimate." (by Cassie Werber, June 20, 2015)

Many other peer-reviewed papers have arrived at similar conclusions, with some estimating that nearly fifty percent of land animals have been lost in just the last forty years. While many have fallen prey to human consumption, habitat loss, and pollution, a significant and growing percent are victims of climate change. https://www.ipcc.ch/

With all the oily oligarchs ("oiligarchs") piped into the White House, the bankrupted billionaire and his den of deniers are progressing exactly backwards.

Check out the film "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" by Greg Palast. There is a grand conspiracy from wealthy billionaires to paid Republican operatives, Trump campaign advisors, and Republican State Legislatures all involved in stealing the election. There is an interesting part on the Koch bros and their efforts to get the pipeline built from Tar Sands Canada to their refinery in Texas. It is a stunning film that I viewed today on You Tube. Its a long film but covers a lot of ground. What Kris Kobach did with "interstate crosscheck" is criminal and he needs to be held accountable. I think if folks across America knew the truth of what happened in the run up to the election, the protests would help land the Trump presidency in impeachment.

For anything serious to be done about global warming, it will have to get bad enough to inconvenience the corporate oligarchy---and that will have to be pretty damn bad. When sea level reaches the second floor of buildings in Manhattan, someone like Donald Trump (assuming he isn't still president, or maybe emperor) simply relocates to Denver or Salt Lake City. Conditions that cause suffering, death and destruction for millions, going on billions, of people, still don't necessarily effect him. When he has to relocate away from the coast, I bet he still doubles down on his denier stance.

And we'll be doing what we always do: deferring to the despots.

Climate change is real but there is room for debate on how to approach it.

Cost effective green energy tech will slow down the change.

But guessing a few rough decades until practical fusion power solves the problem.

ct

Anyone who doubts climate change should google methane bubbles and look at all the methane that is just waiting for a little more ice melt to emerge and destroy it's immediate area in a fire ball or if large enough-the human race

The Heritage Foundation originally and then into Paul Ryan's proposed budget.

@ Mary # 18:

Be wary of the "alternative facts" of the Trump trolls on this forum, whose only role is for entertainment purposes.

I'm not sure which sources Thom used, but there is much written about the rollout of this latest proposal, made by Trump's own officials. Basically, they want to cut $10.5 trillion over 10 years from the federal budget, mostly out of the hide of Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. Their regressive ideas came straight out of one of the worst right-wing swamps of extreme partisan ideology and misinformation imaginable called the "Heritage Foundation."

Among many other reliable sources, it was reported on by "The Hill" and analysed by "Mother Jones," and it reveals a reduction in subsidies to Medicare of 41%, Social Security of 8%, and Medicaid of ?? (I don't have this percentage at the moment).

Here's a quick synopsis of a recent article by Dylan Matthews over at "Vox":

Another proposal by the Republican Study Committee seeks to drastically reduce spending on the health of citizens: Medicare -- $662 billion; Social Security -- $261 billion; Medicaid, CHIP and similar programs -- $1.6 trillion; food stamps, earned income tax credits, and other unnamed programs to help the underprivileged -- $2.2 trillion.

If Trump and Republicans get their way, Medicare will be privatized; benefits means-tested; premiums increased; both Medicare and Social Security eligibility ages raised and means-tested; COLA's shrunken.

Trump's picks for Secretary of Health and Human Services and for Office of Management and Budget -- Tom Price and Mick Mulvaney, respectively -- in their on-the-record history (and even at their confirmation hearings, albeit purposely vague), made no bones about their intentions to reverse almost a hundred years of progressive legislation that benefits everyday hard-working Americans.

Hey Thom - Have you had Keith Ellis and/or Tom Perez on your show? The vitriol and anger about surrounding the DNC and Bernie/Hillary needs to be addressed. If they came on together to talk about how they are different/similar in their visions for the DNC may help. Radical idea - but could the DNC create a CO-Chair situation for them? There is certainly enough work to be done. I recently listened to Tom Perez on Pod Save America podcast https://getcrookedmedia.com/here-have-a-podcast-78ee56b5a323#.bd4b0wjz5and I feel really strongly that his ideas about how the DNC should be confronting voter suppression is urgently needed. The interview is in the last 15 minutes of the podcast.

Help needed.

Last Thursday Thom said that Medicaid and Medicare were going to be cut 41% while Social Security was being cut 8%. I am loooking for further information on this for a disiabled friend.

I've listened to Thom for years and know he doesn't just make things up. Does anyone know where this information came from or how I can get details about this?

With the firing of the Attorney General it might be important to remember that there is a difference between a Presidential Order and a law passed by the Congress.

There is a very controversial issue here. Voting is supposed to be anonymous but after the scandal with Clinton's letters how can anyone feel save if the USA sending his vote online? On the other hand standing in a long line is unacceptable.

I'm writing my essay on it.