UPDATE: Joe Manchin: LIAR...HYPOCRITE...DESERTER...CORRUPTER

 

LATEST: Manchin received 36 donations from corporations in the last two months after announcing he would not support Build Back Better, and raised close to $260,000 in that time period.

Joe Manchin, the Senator from West Virginia is all of those and more, looking more like Donald Trump every day. Taking them one by one, LIAR: He told Pres. Biden he would back the Build Back Better bill, then backed out. On Fox News. HYPOCRITE: Acting like a Democrat, voting like a Republican. DESERTER; from the Democratic Party, most of all his constituents at home. CORRUPTER: Shares this with daughter, Heather Bresch. 

On Sunday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki issued a statement re. Manchin's bail out on the bill designed to benefit Americans in a number of ways, one of the most important decreasing the cost of your medical prescriptions. Of course Manchin would oppose this because of the fiasco with his daughter's pharmaceutical company, Mylan, Inc. which donated at least $200,000 to her father's campaign during five election cycles. Here's the scenario...

"Manchin’s daughter, Heather Bresch, was the president and chief executive officer of Mylan Inc., a pharmaceutical company that specialized in generic drugs. The company raised the price of a two-pack of EpiPen from around $124 dollars in 2009 to $609 in 2016. Bresch left the company in 2020 after Mylan merged with Upjohn, Pfizer’s generic division, in November 2020, to form Viatris Inc. Bresch began working at the company in 1992, and became CEO in 2012."

I did a post back in June asking the question, "Is Joe Manchin a Senate plant

serving Chas. Koch's conservative group?" The answer, an unequivocal YES! The White House is bending over backwards to work with Manchin, a Democrat that should understand the value of Build Back Better to the American public, particularly West Virginia needy. Apparently he doesn't, prompting this from Jen Psaki...

"In the meantime, Senator Manchin will have to explain to those families paying $1,000 a month for insulin why they need to keep paying that, instead of $35 for that vital medicine. He will have to explain to the nearly two million women who would get the affordable day care they need to return to work why he opposes a plan to get them the help they need. Maybe Senator Manchin can explain to the millions of children who have been lifted out of poverty, in part due to the Child Tax Credit, why he wants to end a program that is helping achieve this milestone—we cannot."

The fact is, he doesn't care about his constituents, or he would be supporting BBB. West Virginians are desperately in need of what this bill offers. Let's take a look: $400B Pre-school for all 3 and 4-year olds; $200B Child tax credits; $200B 4 weeks of paid family and medical leave; $165 billion on healthcare spending;  $150 billion to expand affordable home care; $150 billion for affordable housing; $555 billion to fight climate change.

Yes, a lot of money, but is there anything you see in the above that is not justified by the needs in this country? And how is it paid for...

"Democrats say the spending package will be paid for by tax increases on high earners and corporations, but the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found on Thursday that this will only raise around $1.5 trillion over 10 years—just short of the $1.75 trillion in 10-year spending.

"The CBO findings are at odds with the White House’s pledge to fully pay for the Build Back Better bill, which is now expected to increase the federal budget deficit by $160 billion over the next 10 years."

 A pathetic Joe Manchin Says He Won’t Vote For Biden’s Build Back Better Bill...

Like White House Press Sec. Jen Psaki asks in her statement, how will Joe Manchin explain to his West Virginia constituents that he voted down these benefits: child welfare, medical leave and healthcare spending, affordable home care and housing, and a fight against climate change that could save even more lives. The answer, another resounding YES, Democrats are spending but on the right things that will help homelessness, those in poverty and a general shot to the economy.

Contrary to what Manchin says, some aspects of BBB could counter current inflation as reported by NBC...

"The White House and Democratic leaders have rebranded the legislation as an antidote to widespread price hikes, arguing that it would lower the cost of prescription drugs, childcare and overall expenses related to raising families."

 Republicans are harping on increased inflation and consumer prices did jump 6.2% last month. Biden and Chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, as well as Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen, are working on the problem. But thanks to the fact that Joe Manchin blew off the Build Back Better bill, Goldman Sachs has issued a gloomy prediction for the economy. Surprise. It always seems to be traced back to the blockhead senator from West Virginia.

And, because of the latter, Manchin has the country on edge, allowing Republicans to plunder our democracy. It is so fragile that this kind of chaos, added to the Covid-19 pandemic, could soon bring on a GOP autocracy, all thanks to Joe Manchin and cohort Krysten Sinema.

More Joe Manchin below...

WATCH Bernie Sanders put Manchin in his place.

WaPo's Jennifer Rubin's take on Joe Manchin.

Manchin bottom feeder ‘refused’ a call from W.H. before killing BBB

Coal miners want Joe Manchin to reverse opposition to Build Back Better

The Agony of Stupidity...2 States...2 Governors...1 Idiot

 

And the winner is the dufus, Doug Ducey, not only one of the worst governors in the U.S., but one of the largest covid-19 killing machines. As an example, here's a comparison done by Phoenix newspaper columnist, E. J. Montini. Here's his headline...

"Washington is a state like Arizona – only with 13,000 fewer COVID-19 deaths"

And here is the scenario as the columnist pulls no punches on Arizona's head of state...

"For much of the pandemic that number has not seemed to matter much, if at all, to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey. Spouting platitudes about the economy has mattered. Acquiescing to the conspiracy theorists and the anti-vaccine kooks in the Republican party has mattered. 

"But talking about COVID-19 and the terrible toll it has taken on Arizona, and actually doing something to stop it … those things have not mattered."

Donald Trump was still in office as the pandemic began its drive across the U.S. Trump initially called it a hoax, perpetuated by Democrats to do harm to his administration. Ducey echoed the then, White House maniac, leading Arizonans to believe there was nothing to worry about. I did a post on April 3, 2020, " Some COVID-19 deaths Republican governors' responsibility," on how Republican governors were reacting to covid-19 as if it were "just a virus," featuring Ducey...

"On March 23, Ducey issued an executive order prohibiting any county, city or town from issuing any order or regulation “restricting persons from leaving their home due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.” Ducey’s order prevented local municipalities from issuing shelter-in-place regulations."

Dufus Ducey does it again...banning lifesaving vaccine mandates...

 Now that you have the background, let's do the numbers. Montini concludes the states of Washington and Arizona are similar in many ways relating to the coronavirus pandemic. Population is an example...

"Recent counts show Washington at about 7.8 million people and Arizona at about 7.5 million." 

A huge difference is the fact that Washington's Gov. Jay Inslee, was considerably

more aggressive in protecting the citizens of his state than Ducey was with the Arizona population. Inslee is a Democrat. Ducey is a Republican. Inslee took heat from his constituents while the dufus did his thing...

"Arizona, which long ago abandoned its citizens to their own devices, Washington still has a number of restrictions aimed at mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Mask requirements. Proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test requirements. It’s a fairly long list and not everyone is happy about it."

And finally, the numbers that count...

Washington state has had a little over 800,000 cases of COVID-19 and fewer than 10,000 deaths.

Arizona has had 1.3 million cases and 23,000 deaths.

Montini asks his readers, citizens of Arizona, to think about that. I ask my readers the same because it is an excellent representation of how Republicans could care less about this country and its people with their only purpose to wreck our democracy. 

 

Jim Jordan: Next Biggest Threat to America's Democracy

 

The first point I want to make here is, Democrats cannot afford to lose the House for several reasons, the primary one most obvious. But there is one other lurking in the background that poses a catastrophic possibility. Ohio Republican representative Jim Jordan could be the new Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. If the GOP wins the House. Here's an idea of those duties...

In addition to its critical role in providing oversight of the Department of Justice and the agencies under the Department's jurisdiction, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Homeland Security, the Judiciary Committee plays an important role in the consideration of nominations and pending legislation.

Do we want this wingnut Jim Jordan in a position to command this kind of authority as one of the most powerful members of Congress? Hell no! And here is why. Jordan had a major role in organizing and perpetuating the Jan. 6, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. And according to CNN...

"We now know that Jordan forwarded to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows a message (sent from a former Department of Defense inspector general) that laid out the supposed Constitutional backing for then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election the following 

day."

Jim Jordan was and is a strong supporter of the ex-president Donald Trump and "helped push former President Donald Trump's false narrative that the 2020 election was somehow stolen." Here's what the Ohio Republican actually said...

"I don't know how you can ever convince me that President Trump didn't actually win this thing based on all the things you see." Obviously, this idiot has problems with his vision, or is it his brain? Or both?

He also helped promote the 2020 ballot audit in Arizona which turned out to be a monumental disaster confirming that Arizona Senate President Karen Fann is a certifiable imbecile. She has resigned. Next, CNN is reporting that Jordan's text message to Mark Meadows, Trump former Chief of Staff said...

"that Jordan was actively presenting ways to circumvent the Electoral College process on the eve of Pence formally recognizing that Biden had indeed won."

The piece added this...

"is a very different thing from just throwing out some rhetoric on cable TV suggesting -- without any evidence -- that Trump had in fact won. It's taking concrete steps to obstruct the democratic process by which we transfer power in this country."

Rep. Jim Jordan revealed as sender of text to Mark Meadows...

The Republican Party has repeatedly been accused of trying to dismantle our American democracy, and are coming close to succeeding. It's not just at the national level, congressional Republicans, the like, but also in the states with examples like Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis and Texas' Greg Abbott. Here's a recent post: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis...a Totalitarian, Fascist Dictator?" Believe the answer here is an unequivocal YES!

But Greg Abbott has done a great job of mucking up the state of Texas with his voting and abortion laws. This lunatic has flown in the face of federal law and the Constitution by barring abortion in his state. Even Chief Justice John Roberts chastised Abbott over legislating against a federal law, Roe v. Wade. There are other GOP governors like Kristi Noem, South Dakota's governor who throws open the doors of her state to Covid-19 super-spreader events.

And the fact that Jim Jordan had an active part of plotting the Jan. 6, insurrection of the U.S. Capitol won't even dampen his chances of becoming the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Rather, it enhances them in the eyes of another Republican maniac who expects to be the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy. If for no other reason for saving the House to the left, does this country want McCarthy two heartbeats away from the White House? This is a truly horrible thought.

Study: Gun Nuts have AK-47 Penis envy

 

I cannot fathom an idiot laced family that would use religion and its scriptures to support the lunacy of a gang of gun nuts who represent the primary reason for the 42,781 gun violence deaths in 2021. What the hell is "Muscular Christianity" and where in the Bible does it say to, favor ‘stand your ground’ over ‘turn the other cheek?’ In Peter Manseau's perspective in the Washington Post, he offers this headline...

"Why so many guns on Christmas cards? Because Jesus was ‘manly and virile.’"

It would seem that we have a very large population of impotent males in this country since they require some 390 million guns to show their virility. The American Journal of Men's Health says...

Although there has been no direct empirical evidence linking sexual dysfunction (SD) with gun ownership, speculation has been widespread and persistent for decades.

What this Christmas card says about congressional dysfunction...

There's more science from the Journal...

"Our primary hypothesis, derived from the psychosexual theory of gun ownership, asserts that men experiencing SD are more likely to personally own guns than other men. To test this hypothesis, we used recently collected data from the 2021 Crime, Health, and Politics Survey (CHAPS), a national probability sample of 780 men, and binary logistic regression to model gun ownership as a function of SD. Our key finding is that men experiencing SD are no more likely to own guns than men without SD."

The Journal says findings are important for sexual dysfunction because, "they contribute to our understanding of factors associated with gun ownership by challenging the belief that phallic symbolism and masculinity somehow drive men with SD to purchase guns." I live in Arizona, where all that is necessary to own a gun, and carry it anywhere you want, is a warm body. But no matter what open gun law state you live in, you can now marvel over inadequate gun guts carrying.

Here's more research from the Journal...

"The psychosexual theory of gun ownership has three primary propositions. The first proposition is that guns are phallic symbols. In his Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis, [Freud] argued that “the penis is symbolized primarily by objects which resemble it in form, being long and upstanding, such as sticks, umbrellas, poles, trees, and the like; also by objects which, like the thing symbolized, have the property of penetrating, and consequently of injuring, the body,—that is to say, pointed weapons of all sorts: knives, daggers, lances, sabres; fire-arms are similarly used: guns, pistols and revolvers, these last being a very appropriate symbol on account of their shape.”

"The second proposition is that guns are symbols of masculinity. In U.S. culture, guns are associated with masculinity because they are primarily used by men.

"The final proposition is that some men acquire guns as a means of compensation when they perceive losses in virility and masculinity."

This study from The American Journal of Men's Health should be of top interest to gun control advocates explaining in so many ways why gun nuts do what they do. As far as spreading cheer with your AK-47, the recipients of these cards, assuming you are not a gun rights advocate, will be able to snicker at friends and relatives who may have a bedroom problem. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

Just How Unamerican is the Republican Party?

 

Juan Williams, who is an opinion contributor to The Hill believes it is pretty extensive. I did a post recently, "Are You Ready for America's Civil War II," which depicts a country in conflict, clearly defined by the fact that the radical right mounted an attack on the U.S. Capitol this last Jan. 6, in an act of insurrection. I think it is safe to say that this combination of sedition and treason was initiated and then choreographed by Donald Trump.

Williams is a fair-minded person, a Democrat, with two Republican sons, but still unable to "stomach" what has happened to the GOP. There are many out there with that opinion, but, unfortunately, many do not speak up like Williams. Here's a couple of his grievances...

"How can anyone dismiss a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol as just 'one day in January,' to quote former Vice President Mike Pence.

"Doesn’t it infuriate you to see so many Republicans make lying about the winner of the 2020 election a test of party loyalty?"

Well, the right certainly has its mentor to try and prove the 2020 Presidential election was a fraud. As of the first of this year there were well over 30,000 lies attributed to Donald Trump, leading his movement of misinformation. The poor souls who follow him have a cookie cutter image of how to spread his deception, and they have been very effective. But there is evidence Trump's popularity is waning with the failure of his History Tour to draw crowds.

Here's a take on Republicans from a Texas Democrat...

"another strong conservative member of the GOP, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (Texas), offers a similar assessment. Crenshaw, speaking at a public event this month, described unnamed far-right GOP members of Congress as “grifters” and 'performance artists.'”

My gut tells me he is talking about the five simpletons: Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Madison Cawthorne and Paul Gosar. Combined, their IQs would be in the double digits. But what is most compelling about this gang is the morons who elected them in the states of California, Georgia, Colorado, No. Carolina and right here in Arizona. Lord knows, the people have the right to vote but do they have the right to deliver the country certifiable idiots.

It's hard to say when the GOP last made an attempt at governing. Mostly it's vision is to block anything the Democrats want to do, with some help from lowlife Dems like Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema. Williams mentions a host of books written about Donald Trump and I have read most of them. One of them by a close family member, his niece Mary Trump. Most of the others are written by acclaimed journalists like Bob Woodward. The books basically describe a monster.

 Mary Trump: Donald Trump Had The Power To Stop Jan. 6 Riot...

And here is a statement that should be chilling to all Americans who value our democracy...

In the last year, every congressional Republican voted against a bill to help the country recover from the economic damage caused by COVID-19.

In closing, there is still Covid-19 raging across the United States, in large part due to Donald Trump and his Republican cronies. As of this writing, there have been 51,075,976 coronavirus cases in the U.S. and 820,194 deaths. Think about that folks, over 800,000 people, many of which could still be alive...if not for Republicans, led by Donald Trump.

Are You Ready for America's Civil War II

 

Once again Charles M Blow is on top of the latest in the war on democracy. We could have a civil war, he says, which looks like it already started on January 6, at the U.S. Capitol insurrection. He references Texas' violation of the Constitution and federal laws by passing legislation forbidding abortions. 

Then, SCOTUS let the law stand, but with a slight compromise, allowing abortion providers to sue. Here's the scenario...

Anyone who assists in providing an illegal abortion — from the provider down to the person who gives a woman a ride to the clinic — can still be sued. Roe v. Wade has essentially been overturned in the state, and soon that astonishing reality may not only become permanent there but may also spread to other states.

Ridiculous, but that is what we have come to expect from Texas' moron governor, Greg Abbott. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was furious in her dissent...

“This is a brazen challenge to our federal structure. It echoes the philosophy of John C. Calhoun, a virulent defender of the slaveholding South who insisted that States had the right to ‘veto’ or ‘nullif[y]’ any federal law with which they disagreed.”

And who is John C. Calhoun? The answer from Blow...

"I found the invocation of South Carolina’s Calhoun striking. Yes, he was a strong believer in nullification, the idea that states could nullify federal laws, but he was also a raging racist who went further than the slave owners who saw slavery as a 'necessary evil,' seeing it instead as a positive good."

THIS IS SCARY: Kim Iversen: Is CIVIL WAR Looming? Americans SUPPORT Red States, Blue States Seceding From US...

Having grown up in the South, and in the 40s and 50s when the Ku Klux Klan was running rampant, as a very young boy I once witnessed the lynching of a Black man. The experience was ghastly and tortuous as I knew the man had done nothing to deserve this. And I had no prejudice against Blacks since it just didn't make sense to me that I should hate somebody just because of their color. There were many incidents over the years where I disagreed with friends, even family.

That was then, but racism has once again reared its ugly head, somewhat due to Donald Trump's openness for white supremacy, strongly supported by advisers like Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller. This has not gone unnoticed by Charles Blow...

"I see too many uneasy parallels between what was happening nearly 200 years ago and what is happening now. I see this country on the verge of another civil war, as the Calhounian impulse is reborn."

As Blow surmises we won't see the number of deaths experienced in the Civil War starting in 1861, lasting to 1865, even though there has already been violence and some lives lost in the current turmoil. Contrary...

"this new war will be fought in courts, statehouses and ballot boxes, rather than in the fields."

And with this less people will die, but more of democracy will be lost...perhaps all of it forever. 

 

 

 

Anti-vaxxers will not be "coddled"

 

Charles M. Blow is a well-known columnist with the New York Times and he has finally had enough. With anti-vaxxers. Like many of us in the U.S., Blow says, "I am furious at the unvaccinated." The understatement of the year. A personal incident fueled his reaction against a friend who, unvaccinated, could have endangered himself and others around him...like his buddy, Charles Blow. What happened next was typical of a group well defined as anti-science...

"I recently found out that a friend of mine — a smart guy — was not vaccinated, and I confronted him about it.

"How could he have not gotten his vaccination? And how had he not seen fit to tell me and our other mutual friends? Wasn’t he worried about the risk he was posing not just to himself, but to the rest of us?

"He tried to laugh it off, offering up a bunch of concerns rooted in conspiracy theories. But I told him that he had to get vaccinated, period."

Blow also commented, "I will not coddle willful ignorance of the unvaccinated anymore." Well said! Don't you love the word, "coddle?" It means, "to treat tenderly; nurse or tend indulgently; pamper." Not that I think we have had an overabundance of coddling of the anti-science bunch, but there has been more than enough of mutual concession and compromise between those of us who believe that the scientific community knows what it is doing and "those" who don't.

The Story Behind The Anti-Vaxx Movement In America | Rise And Fall...

Charles Blow has more...

"The next time I saw him, he was worried about the omicron variant and asked if I would go with him to get the jab. I texted him a site where he could register and told him to let me know once he had. That was Saturday. He still hasn’t signed up.

"I am disappointed, and I am angry, not just with my friend but with all the people who are choosing not to get vaccinated."

And yes, most of us have tried our best to be "tolerant" with those who sometime challenge the IQ system to its limits. I remember when I was in school, all the way through college, not only in science classes, but any curriculum where you can arrive at a solution by establishing facts that substantiate your problem. The teacher decided we had solved the issue, and we accepted this, not just because the teacher said so, but because we had scientifically determined our results.

I don't like concluding a post by calling names, unfortunately anti-vaxxers have forced this ploy repeatedly in the last two-plus years, and once again I must say it with enthusiasm... the anti-science bunch are IDIOTS.