Do anti-vaxxers belong in the gulag?

August 20, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Measles still on rise in United States  

Anti-vaxxers prefer snake oil

The measles epidemic has now grown to over 1,200 cases in 30 states in the U.S. This, all due to a gang of mentally challenged parents who believed social media info over scientific fact. It is all so pathetic since the highly contagious virus had been declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. But these poor souls decided their neighborhoods needed some excitement, so they refused to vaccinate their children, then sent them off to school to infect other innocent children.

And these 1,200 cases are just since January 1, of this year, an average 150 per month. This is the greatest number of measles cases in the United States since 1992, according to Newsweek. Here's the scenario...

"experts recommend a 95 percent vaccination rate for "herd immunity"—or, in other words, the amount of people who need to be vaccinated to keep those who cannot be vaccinated, due to allergies or other health concerns, safe—the CDC says only 91.1 percent of children aged 19-35 months have received the measles vaccine."

One teen with more brains than his mother...

The United Kingdom is also having its problems with more than 230 cases of measles reported during the first quarter of 2019. Once again, the UK blames misinformation from social media for causing the outbreak. The government has even gone online itself to counter what the radical anti-vaxxers are saying. In the U.S....

"Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressing concern that Instagram and Facebook were “surfacing and recommending messages that discourage parents from vaccinating their children.” Schiff cited a Guardian report that suggested searches on Facebook and YouTube often led users to pages that displayed vaccine misinformation."

Zuckerberg made his usual paltry response to something that might jeopardize FB's advertising or collection of personal data. So, the con goes on resulting in the new 1,200 measles cases in the U.S., 230 in the U.K. Here's the rub...

"Measles is 'almost entirely preventable' with two doses of the vaccine, according to WHO."

The Guardian says it isn't necessarily social media causing the problem in the United Kingdom, but rather the “3Cs” – confidence, complacency and convenience. This is all explained at length in the Guardian article, which, by the way, really has little to do with the American problem. Pure and simple, U.S. anti-vaxxers have a ring in their nose and are listening to social media, then passing it around among themselves. Still say, they belong in concentration camps.

READ MORE: My collection of anti-vaxxer posts

New York Times dubs Trump con man

August 20, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Donald Trump con artist extraordinaire

Donald Trump con artist extraordinaire

Donald Trump has given us one con job after another starting in 2016 when he duped all those supporters to vote for him. Still didn't get the public vote; Hillary Clinton beat him by 3 million. You'd think he won by a landslide; even Trump's Electoral win wasn't that impressive, just 304 to 227. Barack Obama was overwhelming over John McCain in 2008, 365 to 173. The con was on day one in the Oval Office and it has never abated.

Jennifer Rubin, a conservative writer for The Washington Post, says, "Trump’s economic record is one big con." She follows with...

"President Trump came into office promising some fabulous yet unspecified health-care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. No plan existed..." 

In fact every Republican plan reduced the rolls of Obamacare. There's more...

"Trump said he’d bring back manufacturing."

"Actually, it slowed and now has slumped. That’s one of the reasons the Federal Reserve gave for cutting interest rates this week." Rubin continued...

"Trump said he’d get tough on drug companies. He hasn’t. He said his tax cut would be aimed at the middle class, deliver $4,000 a year to the average American family and permanently boost business investment, pushing growth above 3 percent. Nope, nope and nope."

Most of the American public by now knows that the tax cut was in the beginning and continues to be for the wealthy and corporations, and there is no way the middle class or less will ever realize any benefits. Anyone in the White House embarrassed over all these failures? Not on your life. More than likely they are shouting their success to those who stood to gain. John Harwood of CNBC said...

“Benefits from what President Donald Trump called ‘the biggest reform of all time’ to the tax code have dwindled to a faint breeze just 20 months after its enactment. Half of corporate chief financial officers surveyed by Duke University expect the economy to shrink by the second quarter of 2020. Two-thirds expect a recession by the end of next year.”

MSNBC's Chris Hayes, NY Times dubs Trump a con man...

Rubin says this is Trump's biggie...

"The biggest economic lie was Trump’s declaration that trade wars are quickly and easily won, American consumers and farmers wouldn’t be hurt and we somehow would get richer by making Americans pay more at stores. Actually, they are paying a lot."

And even more...

The conservative American Action Forum’s recent study found, “Altogether, the president’s tariffs could increase nationwide consumer costs by nearly $100 billion annually.”

 So, with all of the above, economists have come to the conclusion that a recession is very likely in 2020, brought to us compliments of Donald Trump. If that doesn't dump Trump in 2020, I don't know what could.

Read more here: "Conservatives are a fraud? We knew that"

What's for Christmas mommy? An assault rifle of course honey

August 19, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer is crazier than ever  

I thought I had heard the most bizarre comments already from the NRA's Florida lobbyist, Marion Hammer, but she proved she is still as crazy as NRA head, Wayne LaPierre with this question...

Wayne LaPierre

“How do you tell a 10-year-old little girl who got a Ruger 10/22 with a pink stock for her birthday that her rifle is an assault weapon and she has to turn it over to government or be arrested for felony possession?”

This is beyond belief that any responsible parent would give a ten-year-old child any gun, much less an assault rifle. This walking propagandist has spread more gun violence over Florida and the rest of the country than is possible to comprehend. Here are some actual facts from Hammer...

"Florida is the number five state in terms of gun production. And Hammer pressed that gun manufacturers are a $1 billion dollar industry with more than 700 firearms manufacturing license holders. In 2016, those smaller shops and large manufacturers produced more than 750,000 weapons."

NRA turmoil that could put it out of business...

 Don't know what would be best, get rid of Hammer, or just get rid of the state of Florida, which would eliminate the gun manufacturers as well. It's when you witness the idiocy of moron gun nuts like this that you realize the significance of gun control and why these gun rights maniacs fight it so hard. Hammer received a litany of Twitter activity telling her just how stupid she was for the comment, and the fact that she is lamenting the fate of the poor gun manufacturers.

What possible sane individual could give a crap about a company that is in the business of producing weapons of human destruction, particularly on young children? These lost lives also come at a large expense...

"Dr. Charles Tate, a Broward County radiologist, said Florida would save millions that way, citing that the 2016 Pulse shooting in Orlando costs about $390 million from medical costs, police, and expense to employers."

John Legend on Dayton gun violence...

Although this does not eclipse the innocent people that die from the use of these weapons, you have to look at the overall picture from a national basis. There have been at least 17 deadly mass shootings in the U.S. in 2019, 3 more that could have been. And there are numerous shooting deaths across the nation every day. Here's a headline from Quartz...

"It took more than 700 deaths over 20 years for Americans to finally dislike the NRA"

Further...

"It took at least 87 mass shootings and 725 fatalities, but for the first time in 19 years, American opinion has finally turned on the National. Rifle Association (NRA)."

And the polls support this...

"According to a poll by Fox News published Aug. 14, 47% of Americans hold an unfavorable view of the NRA, versus 42% who hold a favorable one."

With Wayne LaPierre and his NRA on the run in recent internal conflicts and fraud investigations, it is time to eliminate the major source of gun violence in this country. And then we can busy ourselves getting the millions of guns off the street.

Early morning gist of the news

August 19, 2019: PROGRESSIVE NEWS BRIEFS...Where Liberals Walk

An abbreviated view of recent political events 
 

Donald Trump polls just keep getting worse

Did you know that One of Trump’s ‘America First’ Speeches Was Edited By Saudi Arabia?

Did you know that "financial institutions have handed a wealth of information on Russians linked to Donald Trump and members of his family to congressional committees."

Did you know that "Mitch McConnell’s efforts to lift sanctions on Russian companies helped pave the way for a major aluminum project in Kentucky?"

McConnell's crooked deal with Russians...

Did you know that evangelicals are just fine with Trump's racism?

Did you know that Donald Trump aides call his daily work ethic the “absolute amateur hour” at the White House?

Did you know that "Economist Robert Reich warns that the ‘sugar high’ of ‘Trumponomics’ won’t last: ‘The economy is very, very fragile’"

Robert Reich: Is Donald Trump worst president ever?...

Did you know that the WSJ "trashed [Trump] adviser Peter Navarro for being the driving force behind policies that appear to be driving the entire world’s economy into recession.

Did you know that the Internet said "Everything you touch goes bankrupt," in reference to Trump claims the media caused his failing economy.

Conservative strategist Rick Wilson: "Everything Trump touches dies"...

Did you know that Washington Post columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner in 2009, Eugene Robinson condemned Donald Trump polling numbers across the board citing more poor performance in Electoral states.

Did you know that conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin tells the story of why Trump is "tanking." 

What Trump supporters really look like

August 18, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Trump supporters are less than hopeless  

They try, but this is what they are

Have you ever tried to convince a Donald Trump follower that he is a tyrannical despot scraping the bottom of the political barrel? In my blog posts, I make these and more allegations against the Oval Office lunatic. It zings right past them into eternity because this ego maniac has managed to take over control of their brains, and they can no longer think for themselves. Their abilities are also limited since I can tell most of them don't even read my posts, just headlines. The scenario...

“The sad truth is that with all that Trump has said and done, millions of Americans don’t see where he has ever crossed the line,” Washington Post, columnist Colbert King wrote. “Slurring Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists? Calling for a ban on all Muslims coming into the country? Suggesting that a U.S.-born judge overseeing a Trump University lawsuit should recuse himself because of his Mexican heritage (“He’s a Mexican,” Trump said)? Saying people in the United States from Nigeria will never “go back to their huts”? Referring to Haiti and African countries as “s—hole countries” while wishing the United States would take more people from places like Norway?”

Some of Trump's pathetic supporters...

Colbert adds more...

“Trump’s loyal base of supporters rejects or ignores any charge of bias. They stay locked in, because they see things his way; he is speaking for them,” he explained. “So, don’t waste time trying to convince them that Trump has a dark side. They have heard what you heard; have seen what you’ve seen. The difference: They delight in the Trump thoughts, words and deeds that you denounce.”

King muses that these Trump people just don't care, adding, "after over two years of watching Trump in action, any fans he has left are no different than the president." And left with this, nothing could be worse.

Trump 2020 election doomed by economic downturn

August 17, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTE...Where Liberals Walk

The economy will be Donald Trump's downfall  

Same way Donald Trump runs the U.S.

Donald Trump's tax cut failed and since then the economy has begun a spiral down that just might carry him into the 2020 elections. The Guardian says that could be disastrous since the US economy is the centerpiece of his re-election campaign. And this is happening just two years into his first four-year term. In this same period during his predecessor's administration, President Barack Obama, he was ending the 2008 recession cause by George W. Bush.

Obama economy much better than Trump's...

T-rump has also given us escalating trade wars that are now threatening everything from big business to the farming community. The maniacy of Donald Trump is a menace that will bring this country to its knees and that is saying something for the most powerful nation in the world. Here's the scenario...

“The economy is absolutely critical to his re-election,” said Michael Steel, a former aide to the retired House speaker John Boehner. “The handling of the economy is, generally speaking, the only issue that he is viewed positively on in polling."

Trump's statement in his 2019 State of the Union address: “An economic miracle is taking place in the United States.” What he should have said was, 'It will take a miracle to get the United States back to where it was before the Donald Trump administration took office.'

Donald Trump is getting more and more irrational every day

August 19, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Just how "worst president" is Donald Trump  

Donald Trump even worse than GWB

It's a no-brainer that Donald Trump could not come up with anything substantive on his own to run this country, so he relies on Barack Obama accomplishments to steal acclaim for. Like "claiming credit for the opening of a Shell plant in Pennsylvania this week, despite the fact that construction for the plant was first announced by the Obama administration in 2012." Others include "everything from Ford plants to jobs at Charter Communications and SoftBank.”

CNN’s John Avlon provides a litany of things T-rump had supposedly done, although in reality they were done before he even became president. Here's another...

"Trump blatantly lied when he took credit [80 times] for the VA Choice bill that expanded U.S. veterans’ options for receiving health care. The law, it turns out, was cosponsored by the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and signed into law by Obama in 2014."

 It's a given that Donald Trump will go down in history as the worst president this country has ever had--yes, worse even than George W. Bush--but the question is if and when the United states can recover from his stupidity.

Donald Trump ranks solidly last in U.S. presidents...

Next up, Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post says Donald Trump is getting more and more irrational every day. She mentions his baseless conspiracy theory about the death of Jeffrey Epstein having been caused by Bill and Hillary Clinton. In my opinion that was a move to take the attention away from the Oval Office lunatic, perhaps something we are yet to learn. She adds...

"Yet his party is willing to allow an impulsive and irrational commander in chief remain in office."

But even more worrisome than this is T-rump's loyal supporter base of double-digits who follow him no matter where he goes. The last figure I remember was around 30%, and it is a frightening fact that that many Americans stand for the same deplorable things Donald Trump stands for. Rubin leaves us with her assessment of Trump...

"that the 45th president is a reckless buffoon; a conspiratorial, racist moron, whose weird comments should be disregarded by sensible people.”

And WP's Jennifer Rubin follows her piece above with, "The king of insults can’t handle the truth about himself."  She addresses #45...

"President Trump has made more than 12,000 false or misleading statements during fewer than 1,000 days in office and has insulted hundreds of people, entire countries and our collective intelligence."

Strike-through above my own. Continuing, "When confronted with unpleasant truths about himself, however, he wigs out, according to The Post’s reporting." She is referring to the fact that Trump can't seem to shake the label of racist, a recognition that he has certainly earned honestly. If you Google "Donald Trump racist" you get 167 million hits. Finally, Rubin mentions, "taking Russian President Vladimir Putin’s word over that of the U.S. intelligence community."

That borders on treason.