Trump taking healthcare from most needy

 

Do you live in the states of Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah, or Virginia? There are three million of you who could immediately lose your health coverage if the Republicans cut extra federal Medicaid funding that's helped states to increase what you receive.. Here's the scenario from AlterNet...

"If Congress cuts federal funding, Medicaid expansion would be at risk in all states that have opted into it — even those without trigger laws — because state legislatures would be forced to make up the difference, said Renuka Tipirneni, an associate professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health."

There are forty other states and the District of Columbia extending this health insurance to 21 million people, a move that has brought U.S. uninsured rates to an all time low. In exchange, the federal government pays 90% of the cost to cover the expanded population. A lot of this does depend on politics at the state level. Here's another if..

"If Congress cuts federal funding, Medicaid expansion would be at risk in all states that have opted into it — even those without trigger laws — because state legislatures would be forced to make up the difference.

Republican states would no doubt oppose the above and let the program expire. The article points out that "Six of the nine states with trigger laws — Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, and Utah — went for Trump in the 2024 election.

"Conservatives oppose the ACA, saying "the program costs too much and covers too many people." Liberals say "the Medicaid expansion has saved lives and helped communities by widening coverage to people who could not afford private insurance." And here's an interesting fact...

"Nearly a quarter of the 81 million people enrolled in Medicaid nationally are in the program due to expansions." 

In other words there is a specific, established need here, but Donald Trump doesn't think it is necessary. I have come to the conclusion that the new Donald Trump administration is not necessary. 

 

MR. PRESIDENT: If you look frail, if you talk frail, and if you walk frail, you must be frail...

 

 

  ...too frail to lead this country for another four years. I know, we all know, what you are afraid of; the lunatic who could win the White House without a strong Democrat in the race. But, the American public has decided as reported by Politico...

"Biden’s slide in the polls since the debate puts him in a hole larger than all but two incumbents — who were both defeated for reelection — going back more than four decades."

Four Democrats have come out in favor of you dropping out of the race, while it's still time to prep a new candidate. Make no mistake, Mr. Biden, this is of extreme importance since the election is only a little over three months away. Some of the pundits say it is already too late. Axios reports...

"8.5 million watched Biden's ABC News interview."

 ...only 16.6 percent of the number who watched the debate. One might draw the conclusion that many voters have either made up their minds or just weren't interested. Neither is good for Joe Biden.

In the George Stephanopoulos interview, the President said he didn't need a cognitive test because he takes one every day.  David Axelrod in the New York Post...

“When George Stephanopoulos asked him (Pres. Biden) if he’d be willing to take a cognitive test, he said, ‘I take a cognitive test every day.’ Well, the fact is, that may be true, but 75% of the American people think he fails,” said Axelrod.

And what is astonishing is Mr. Biden denies he is losing to Donald Trump, again from Axios. From the West Coast, "Hollywood moguls want to replace Biden for America’s leading role," according to Axios...

"Several feel deceived by the White House and top campaign officials for keeping Biden's age issues a secret while they promoted his candidacy and donated millions."

An example...

"Abigail Disney, a longtime Democratic supporter, told CNBC she planned to stop any contributions to the party "unless and until they replace Biden at the top of the ticket."

ABC News reports, "Wealthy Democratic donors sound alarm over Biden staying in race," and this is the call all over the current political spectrum. So why doesn.t President Biden answer the call and do the right thing? Now, when a new candidate can be groomed to beat Trump. The time is slipping away, if it isn't already too late. If I were Joe Biden, I would not want to go down in history as the one who helped in the destruction of democracy.

Please Mr. Biden, do it now.

The search for a termination to Trump violence

 

If supporter reaction is any indication as to the backing there is for Donald Trump violence, look at what the Daily Beast says happened right after his 34 count guilty verdict...

"Just moments following former President Donald Trump’s guilty verdict on 34 counts in his hush money case in New York, WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform, crashed due to an influx of supporters flocking to the site to donate to the presumptive Republican nominee."

And, yes, a dollar donated to Donald Trump is a dollar donated to violence. But, at the same time the left saw fit to also take advantage of the situation...

"However, Trump and his supporters weren’t the only ones who were fundraising off of the verdict. Democrats immediately started sending out emails asking for donations to their campaigns including Reps. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Wiley Nickel (D-NC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee."

Meanwhille, a Republican Congress mirrors "Trump’s attacks on justice system and campaign of vengeance after guilty verdict," as reported by the Associated Press. This never ending idolatry for a certified lunatic has brought the GOP to the edge of disaster; their persistence has given them no choice but to continue a path of destruction. His detractors were quickly silenced...

"And those Republicans who expressed doubts about Trump’s innocence or political viability, including his former hawkish national security adviser John Bolton or top-tier Senate candidate Larry Hogan of Maryland, were instantly bullied by the former president’s enforcers and told to 'leave the party.'”

The Guardian reported, "‘No way out without bloodshed’: the right believe the US is under threat and are mobilizing." A sign by one of Trump's minions says, "Load Your Muskets," a call for violence if I ever heard one. Dan Bongino on Truth Social media said, “Pick a side, or YOU are next,” clearly a hostile threat to anyone who doesn't agree with these hypocritic turncoats. More from The Guardian, misinformation is pushing the drive to bring more Republicans into the fold...

"In one viral claim, people say it’s not clear what crimes Trump even committed (the charges for falsifying documents are listed in detail in the indictment, and have been broken down piece by piece by the media). In another, posts claim the judge gave incorrect instructions to the jury before deliberations, which an Associated Press fact check deemed false."

Salon says, "So far, however, Trump's open desire for more mob violence has not amounted to much." But that changed when SCOTUS recently "ruled in favor of a January 6 defendant who argued that he was wrongly convicted under a law criminalizing the obstruction of an official proceeding." It isn't clear yet the extent of this ruling, but it is certainly an opening to put these convicted rioters and murderers back on the street. They tried to take over the government through insurrection, defined as...

An act or instance of rising in revolt, rebellion, or resistance against civil authority or an established government.

Only idiots would deny what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, and apparently that includes the conservative justices of the Supreme Court.

ABC News finds 54 cases invoking 'Trump' in connection with violence, threats, alleged assaults with the following as an egregious example...

"After a Latino gas station attendant in Gainesville, Florida, was suddenly punched in the head by a white man, the victim could be heard on surveillance camera recounting the attacker’s own words: “He said, ‘This is for Trump.'" Charges were filed but the victim stopped pursuing them."

This is not the United States we know. This is not the Republican Party we have known. It is time to terminate the Donald Trump ideology of violence and bring this country back to its traditional self. 

 

JOE BIDEN: It's time to fish or cut bait

 

Bden Trump 2024 Debate

To begin with, there is no amount of political strategy that will take away the impressions garnered by those who saw Joe Biden's performance in last Thursday's debate with Donald Trump. In one case it was described as "dead man walking." It is said he had a cold, begging the question, could they have delayed the debate until he was better? Like the next day at Biden's North Carolina rally where the media described him as "energetic," "Jacked up," "re-energized." Still, Joe Biden is a gentleman politician with a fifty-year record as an outstanding statesman. So what does he do?

Since the first lady is his closest and most listened to adviser, and the fact that she praised the President's performance saying, "You did such a great job," negated her opportunity to be honest with her husband, having a realistic conversation with him about what had just happened. The Daily Beast says, "Jill Biden Must Step Up Now to Help Oust Her Husband." Think the word "oust' is a bit harsh, but it is the general feeling of the national and local media across the country that Joe Biden must go. There is an enormous amount at stake and Jill Biden plus his staff must make the President realize this.

Yes, 'it's the cognition stupid,' a line customized often as here, coined by James Carville in 1992 originally as "It's the economy stupid," for Bill Clinton's campaign. The word, cognition, has been around a long time but was brought back forcefully with The Washington Post describing Donald Trump...

"bragged about purportedly acing a widely used cognitive test that was administered to him when he was president, suggesting that the test included identifying drawings of three animals."

When in fact...

"The creator of the test in question, called the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoCA, said it has never included the specific combination of animals described by Trump in any of its versions over the years."

But, of course, this could have been just another of Trump's lies; however, the media chose the more

seductive reason that he was having trouble with cognition. It is a buzz word now that comes up almost daily to describe either of the two men, so often repeated but is completely overlooked or denied by Trump supporters. The fact that Trump saw animals in the cognitive test sounds almost delusional and probably should be analyzed by a psychologist. And back to Joe Biden, Slate put it succinctly...

"The president got absolutely lost during Thursday night’s debate while attempting to make a point about … something, possibly Medicare enrollment, and it looked terrible."

The Financial Times says, "It is not too late for Joe Biden to go," an opinion by Edward Luce, who comments...

"The best that can be said of Joe Biden’s stumbling debate performance was that it took place in June. If he were pressed to step down as nominee there would still be two months to go before the Democratic convention. For Biden’s loyalists, who have always moved swiftly to shut down any hint of dissent about his candidacy, Thursday night was a moment of truth."

ABC News reported, "Biden addresses poor debate performance, attacks Trump at Raleigh rally," saying that...

"A senior campaign aide told ABC News that the president is "absolutely" not considering dropping out of the race after stumbling with answers and is committed to a second debate."

"The crowd constantly shouted, "Four more years," during the event which also included remarks from first lady Jill Biden."

These are the major considerations in Joe Biden's current predicament, and we're still experiencing the fallout. In post-debate comments, Donald Trump called President Biden "grossly incompetent." In a Washington Post article four years ago, by Daniel W. Drezner, he wrote about, "The unique incompetence of Donald Trump in a crisis," where he compared the missteps by the Obama administration in the 2014 Ebola crisis with Trump's 2020 inept handling of the Corona virus...

"The bureaucracy — composed of the experts dedicated to solving the problem — royally screwed up its initial handling of the crisis."

Biden spent the weekend at Camp David with family and close allies to discuss the situation. We may be surprised by what we hear from the White House today or later this week. One can only hope the right decisions are made. 

 

Steve Bannon: Almost as scary as Donald Trump?

 

As Republican House Speaker, Mike Johnson, tries to persuade the Supreme Court to keep Steve Bannon out of prison, it was reported by CBS News that "Steve Bannon promises retribution if Trump returns to the White House." Here's the scenario...

"House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on Fox News' 'Hannity' on Tuesday night that House Republicans were 'working on filing an amicus brief with his appellate work there in his case because the January 6 committee was, we think, wrongfully constituted.'"

Meanwhile, The former Donald Trump strategist claims "his War Room is shaping Republican narratives" adding, "We’re relentless. I will never back off." That has been the blueprint of the Republican Party for years; to keep shoving misinformation at the American public, over and over, until some begin to believe it.  And those poor souls range from the hard-core MAGA supporters to those who are undecided and can be influenced by this meaningless nonsense. Yes, and in my mind this makes Steve Bannon almost as scary as Donald Trump while sharing similar means of dissemination.

CNN reports...

"The Justice Department urged the Supreme Court on Wednesday to reject an effort by former Trump aide Steve Bannon to avoid prison while he appeals his contempt of Congress conviction."

 But with a conservative packed court, it's anyone's guess of what they will do. Throughout all this radical right muddling, Bannon confirms the 2020 election denial, the "Big Lie," as he and his cronies describe it, is still "Driving Everything in the GOP," according to The New Republic. And then in The Guardian piece on the 'War Room,' above...

The 70-year-old – once featured on the front of Time magazine with the headlines 'The Great Manipulator” and “Is Steve Bannon the Second Most Powerful Man in the World?'– is constantly thinking about the media and shaping narratives. He believes that he wields more influence through his War Room show, which launched in October 2019, than he did working on Trump’s first election campaign or during a brief, ill-fated spell as White House chief strategist."

Now, that's really scary!

TURN LEFT AT THE NEXT CONSERVATIVE... 

,"

Clarence Thomas wants to give domestic abusers guns with gun rights already absurdly exaggerated

 

Aging is something we either look forward to or dread. With today's political crazies, one can only wait...

Clarence and Ginni Thomas

There have already been 8,026 murders by a gun in 2024, 15,299 gun injuries and 245 mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive, But Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas says domestic abusers should own guns, while at the same time SCOTUS was upholding a federal law prohibiting domestic abusers under restraining orders from carrying firearms. Thomas was the only dissenter. Is he trying to persuade the gun industry now to shower him with money and gifts after having done this elsewhere for years and getting away with it?

The New Republic Reports...

"In his dissenting opinion in United States v. Rahimi, Thomas sided with gun rights advocates who opposed the rule, arguing that the other Supreme Court justices had somehow misunderstood a three-year-old opinion he’d written about gun regulation. In this case, however, Thomas only has himself to blame."

Just another case of confusing the issue in the name of gun rights in an attempt to keep the American public on the side of gun nuts. TNR says, "Thomas regularly points to historical tradition when trying to strip away people’s rights," as follows,,,

"Thomas argued that criminal prosecution is a good enough means of keeping guns out of the hands of those who would do harm, insisting that the government could not “strip the Second Amendment right of anyone subject to a protective order—even if he has never been accused or convicted of a crime.”

It is this absurd assumption that the 2nd Amendment is sacred, which is designed to skew the opinions in this country in order to put more guns on the street. There are almost 400 million out there in America with a total population of 341,784,755, more than one gun per person. Common sense tells you that with the huge capacity of this weaponry, you are bound to have more gun violence, and that is what we have in this country.

Also making sense is the idea of keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers. Almost 60% of mass shootings are domestic violence related, where the perpetrator either killed family or intimate partners, with these statistics from The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence...

"On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men."

Yet, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wants to give domestic abusers guns. And, unrelated to this issue, but indicative of character, Thomas, along with his wife Ginni, is considered one of the most corrupt judges to sit on this high court. Pathetic!

 

The Republican Party festers racism

 

Dorothy Parker said, "People should be one of two things, young or dead." I am neither young nor dead, but...

Dorothy Parker at left with Algonquin Roundtable friends

   
 ...On a day to day basis I marvel at the utter tomfoolery of the Republican Party and am so grateful that I do not have that many more years to suffer the morons of the radical right. Yes, I am sure they will hang around a while whether in the minority or majority. This kind of cancer is near impossible to get rid of, espeecially with the force Trump supporters are using to prolong it. How can any sane, conscious individual still support Donald Trump after his recent Racine, WI, tirade where CNN's Daniel Dale caught him in 30 obvious lies; old news perhaps, but still pathetic.

Trump is a confirmed racist from Blacks to Muslims, and he has his followers. Valentina Gomez, a Republican candidate for Missouri secretary of stateValentina Gomez, a Republican candidate for Missouri secretary of state, said, Black Americans who do not like the country should "kindly" leave. At times I don't like this country, but that is a constitutional right we have in our democracy. Gomez is a Trump supporter who would agree with the idea to turn America into an authoritarian state. Obviously admitting she doesn't have the brains to think for herself.

In a recent Twitter video Gomez attacked Juneteenth and said: "If you don't like America, gtfo [get the f*** out]." Once again pointing out the classlessness of Trump followers. There is more of this diatribe but what is clear is that it is this kind of senseless dedication to the Trump cause that is threatening to destroy our democracy.  It's been said that Trump is the "most racist president in modern history," and beliefs like the following do confirm that argument...

"embracing birtherism, referring to African nations as 'shithole countries,' telling congresswomen of color to go back to where they came from, calling Mexican immigrants 'rapists,' refusing to denounce white supremacists during a presidential debate and so on."

We have to get rid of the ilk of Valentina Gomez and her absurd ideology. The way to do this is through the November election. BE SURE TO VOTE!

And,,,Take a left at the next conservative!