Covid-19 and climate change both destroying the U.S

 

The coronavirus snuck up on us and established its unchallenging position that required the immediate actions of the healthcare community. There has been considerable success, even though Republicans, especially, governors like Florida's Ron DeSantis and Texas' Greg Abbott who oppose any precaution recommended by the CDC. These heads of states are responsible for horrific numbers of death and suffering in their states, yet they refuse to back down.

Climate change has also been creeping along at a slow yet enduring pace that has produced calamities of excessive rainfall and heat hardships like we are experiencing this summer. And then there are the dry areas that have spawned wildfires like those recently in California, particularly the one in Lake Tahoe currently threatening thousands of people and homes and the resort areas hotels. Republicans swear that climate change is a myth, refusing to address the problem.

Just recently there was the New York times headline: "Governors DeSantis and Abbott, ‘Undermining Public Health’" Now this is a mandate that should unravel the residents of Texas and Florida, but so far, very little from the ranks. School districts are defying DeSantis regularly on his ban of mask mandates, and Abbott has taken a few hits on his regulations from the courts. But new Covid-19 cases and deaths just keep piling up. Texas, as an example, had 257 deaths today.

This country has other problems like gun violence and immigration reform, both with figures like immigrant encounters are at a 21 year high, and 29,759 deaths using guns since the first of the year. There are more and with all the dilemma facing us, one might think we are approaching apocalypse. Study after study proves that masks prevent the spread of the virus, and environmental groups have shown the value of clean energy to stave of atmospheric nightmares. Go figure.

And then the NYT opinion page asks, "What if the Coronavirus Crisis Is Just a Trial Run?" After all, this country is wallowing in a good life that has recently lost sight of the future and what could happen to our children if we don't put the brakes on excesses of all kinds. But the children themselves are being taught they can have whatever they want with no consequences for their destiny. There is a certain amount of innocence here but there is also willful participation. 

In summation, if we are in as bad a shape as the media reports in fighting future viruses as well as stopping changing weather patterns that kill, as an example the recent Ida hurricane that hit Louisiana, are we, in fact, heading for an apocalypse?

Bill Barr's Ukraine connection, Whistleblower, Impeachment and Mitch McConnell

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 BEST OF THE NEWS

What's happenin?... 

Never been truer than Trump administration

Attorney General William Barr is one of the biggest failures of the Trump administration...READ MORE

Trump early response to the whistleblower complaint is incoherent...READ MORE

Trump will be hurt at least three ways by impeachment, even if the senate exonerates him...READ MORE

MSBC's Rachel Maddow on Trump impeachment...

Lowlife Mitch McConnell is with Trump all the way as he continues to undermine national security...READ MORE

Republicans look the other way, as usual, as Brett Kavanaugh lies under oath...READ MORE

John Bolton turning on Trump and apparently has info on whistleblower...READ MORE

In recent demonstrations over Climate Change, which brought out over 400,000 demonstrators, one sign commenting on Donald Trump's Cabinet read: "I've seen smarter cabinets at IKEA."...READ MORE

Climate change demonstrations...

Karen Pence turns to Twitter to lavish praise on Donald Trump; it was a failure like everything this family does. Something like a religious Cheney family...READ MORE

More indecipherable Trump over Ukraine allegations; call in the white coats...READ MORE

Donald Trump resorts to more lies when asked about impeachment; if T-rump didn't lie, he wouldn't say anything at all...READ MORE

Hard data show economic program Donald Trump said would help average Americans has "actually imposed substantial costs on about 70 percent of Americans."...READ MORE

READ THIS Goldman Sachs 34-page analysis of the impact of climate change. The results are reported as "terrifying."...READ MORE

Would Donald Trump throw Mike Pence under the bus to save himself? Hell yes!...READ MORE

IKEA to Invest Billion Dollars in the Environment

The Scandanavians are in the news for investing big in cleaning up the environment. IKEA, based in Sweden, announced it will spend one billion euros (1.13 billion dollars) over the next five years to address climate change. While in the U.S. a Think Progress analysis found that "over 58 percent" of congressional Republicans refuse to accept the science of climate change. Go figure. IKEA's decision was partially the result of a survey taken last year with the finding that 41% of the store's customers think the company “takes social and environmental responsibility.” Now that's a refreshing change to some American companies that simply concentrate on polluting the environment.

Forbes magazine has published an article with 11 U.S. companies that are considered best for the environment. Among them are Seventh Generation and Go Lite, but there is also the other side...our country's big polluters. Just recently Environment America released "Polluting Politics" a report that analyzes spending on federal lobbying and campaign contributions by companies releasing the most toxic chemicals into U.S. waterways. Guess who tops the list of water polluters who spend the most politically to prevent environmental policies? KOCH Industries. But they are just one; others include Tyson Foods, Dept. Of Defense, Cargill, U.S. Steel and Phillips 66. And these are only water polluters.

The environment has taken a series of hits that many climate scientists have said we cannot recover from if we don't do something now. With a GOP Congress that won't pass any laws opposed by big business, there is little hope we will ever clean up this mess.

Latest News Briefs

 

Biden struggling on stimulus with $15 minimum wage attached to bill. Both are important by do the stimulus now and let Bernie ramrod minimum wage. Read more...

Coronavirus cases on decline in U.S. but U.K., Brazil and So. Africa variants could change that. Read more...

Trump funnelled money from donors into private business after election loss, report finds. Read more...

Trump court appointee grants Capitol rioter, Jenny Cudd, request to go to Mexico for a vacation. A quote from Cudd...

"F--- yes, I am proud of my actions, I f---ing charged the Capitol today with patriots today. Hell, yes, I am proud of my actions," Cudd said in the Facebook video, according to court records.

Read more... 

Climate change "may have played a key role" in coronavirus pandemic, study says. Human caused climate change screwed up forests of Southeast Asia proliferating bats in the region. Result coronavirus? Read more...

Having to fight Republicans on a bill that will substantially help the country recover from COVID-19 and a slowing economy is typical of the miserable Party the GOP has become. Pathetic! Read more...

QUESTION: "Will I get the vaccine or the virus first?" Yet there are those out there who oppose the vaccine and more seriously those charlatans that provoke anti-vaxxers and profit from their stupidity. But this article is about how the coronavirus vaccine is being distributed and its problems. Read more...

450,000 Americans dead from COVID-19, a number that should ricochet around the Donald Trump impeachment trial. The U.S. leads the world in deaths and the signs are for a slow recovery with the three new variants. Read more...

U.K. variant increases the risk of dying from COVID-19 compared with previous variants. Whoa...didn't they tell us the variants were more transmissible but not necessarily more contagious? Other scientists say this is...

"preliminary and still does not indicate whether the variant is more deadly or is just spreading faster and so reaching greater numbers of vulnerable people."

Read more... 

Federal executions likely a COVID superspreader. AP reports...

"As the Trump administration was nearing the end of an unprecedented string of executions, 70% of death row inmates were sick with COVID-19. Guards were ill. Traveling prisons staff on the execution team had the virus. So did media witnesses, who may have unknowingly infected others when they returned home because they were never told about the spreading cases.>

Read more... 

"FBI net closes on Maga mob that stormed the Capitol." As Donald Trump's impeachment Senate trial nears and dozens of Capitol rioters are in jail or on bail, there is no sign of the Department of Justice and FBI letting up in their relentless pursuit of the insurrectionists. Read more...

Get ready for a Super Bowl superspreader in Tampa. The Daily Beast says, "Out-of-towners desperate to escape the confines of more restricted states could spell a fiasco in Tampa." There's more...

“With the Bucs playing in the Super Bowl, no one is thinking about COVID,” [Warren] Colazzo said. “It’s an escape from what’s going on. The last three nights, I’ve met a lot of people from California and other lockdown states who came here just to party. They are not even here to watch the football game.”

Read more... 

"Iowa Governor Rescinds Mask Mandate in Face of Mutations." And in this move by one of the country's most incompetent governors is a guarantee for more COVID-19 cases and deaths in the state many past presidential candidate think has the most common sense. Unfortunately, here, we have a certifiable idiot. Read more...

GOP Congress masterful at blocking anything Obama

The GOP stonewall

The Republican merry band of stonewalling bunglers started out the new year with their same tactics of saying no to anything President Obama presents.  On January 18, the GOP Congress voted to block Obama’s request for $1.2 trillion in additional borrowing authority, indicating the same Republican reaction to “anything Barack Obama” would continue throughout 2012.  Oh, that’s right, it’s an election year. 

Tea Party flake, Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican representative, said, “Until we have a plan to deal with our fiscal crisis, we should not raise the debt ceiling any further.”  In other words, push the problem to as close to the November election as possible, and, by the way, I’m running for Senator.  He also voted against the temporary payroll tax extension back in December 2011, the bill to extend payroll tax deductions and unemployment compensation.

Following is a list of bills, appointments, etc. that this gang of obstructionists has stalled or stopped in their tracks:

• GOP blocks vote on Richard Cordray to head consumer bureau (later appointed)
• Republicans Block Congressional Health Care Disclosure
• GOP leadership blocks congressional insider-trading ban
• Senate GOP blocks Democrat disaster aid 
• GOP attempts to block EPA’s climate change rules
• Republicans block Tax on Companies that ship jobs overseas
• GOP blocks Political Ad disclosure bill
• Republicans block The Small Business Jobs Act (later passed)
• GOP blocks The DREAM Act

• Republicans block repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (later passed)

And there are more that you can see here.

All of which brings us to President Obama’s proposed budget that he says is a "blueprint for how we can rebuild an economy where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded." 

At the same time there is the end of February deadline to pass an extension for the payroll tax cut and unemployment compensation which is sure to heat up the rhetoric since Obama wants to cover the cost with a “surtax on income over $1 million and eliminating some corporate tax subsidies, like those going to oil and gas companies.”  Republicans want to cover it partially by “extending the current pay freeze on federal workers and requiring wealthier seniors to pay higher Medicare premiums,” according to CNN.

If we run into the same GOP barricade that we did in December, the result is that 160 million American families would pay an additional $1,000 in taxes per year.  The package will cost an estimated $160 billion and that is where the President wants millionaires to step up to the plate and pay their fair share.  New chief of staff Jack Lew would not predict passage but recounted the “ugly fight” this past December over the payroll tax, something we need to avoid this go around.

This past Saturday in his weekly presidential address, Obama urged Congress to "stop this middle-class tax hike from happening, period."  He also said "No drama. No delay.  And no ideological side issues that have nothing to do with this tax cut. Now is not the time for self-inflicted wounds to our recovery. Now is the time for common-sense action. And this tax cut is common sense."  Naturally Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, did his number to make the Dems the bad guys.

GOP House Speaker John Boehner wants to vote this week on a Republican plan to extend “…the payroll tax cut -- but not unemployment benefits or a delay of cuts in fees to doctors who treat Medicare patients,” as reported in USA Today.  The White House is wary and press secretary Jay Carney says there is still time to negotiate a settlement.  Not sure there are many Americans that would agree with Carney.

People throughout this country have become weary over the shenanigans of the GOP Congress, including some Democrats, and their lowest approval rating ever supports this.  It’s like they just don’t get it, and until this self-serving clan of taxpayer moochers decides that they do work for us, there will be no change.

We all have a chance to do something about this in November and it will be interesting to see just how concerned voters really are.  Or will it be business as usual?

Republicans accept global warming - Paul Krugman proves them wrong

 

The GOP calls the obvious threat of global warming "fake news," a hoax. Paul Krugman explains the Republican strategy of picking their denial, based on the issue. Krugman says...

"That’s what we’re seeing now, as conservatives argue against the Biden administration’s push for climate-friendly public investment. As it happens, this push is taking place against a background of unprecedented heat waves, huge forest fires, severe drought in some places and catastrophic flooding in others — phenomena that scientists have long warned would become more common as the planet gets hotter."

In some cases the GOP is backing off slightly from its denials...

"Senator James Inhofe, the author of 2012’s “The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future,” is now claiming that he never called climate change a hoax."

 In a recent post, this headline from Business-Insider, "The companies polluting the

planet have spent millions to make you think carpooling and recycling will save us." My comment was that Chas. Koch, one of America's most profound polluters, was no doubt standing in the front to donate from his ill-gotten gains. As always, supporting Koch to the hilt was the Senate's great protector of slimeballs like Koch, traitor emeritus, Joe Manchin.

Here's a video from seven years ago [still appropriate] featuring Richard Branson taking Chas. Koch to task saying he just "isn't listening" when it comes to global warming...

In closing, Paul Krugman is pessimistic, professing...

"If experience is any guide, this new willingness to accept the reality of global warming won’t last; the next time America has a cold snap, the usual suspects will go right back to denying climate change and attacking scientists."

America must remember that it is clearly Republicans that are leading our country to this catastrophe! 

Republicans paid millions by top polluters to dump Paris Agreement

GOP Congress 

The sleaziest of all, Senate head, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) was paid $1,975,245; Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas): $2,484,520; Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas): $3,031,956; Senator Roy Blunt (R-Missouri): $1,143,574. And the list goes on; view the totals for each Senator here. There is a question in my mind of what the difference in the impact of this group is over the White House nationalist, Steve Bannon, who supposedly spearheaded Trump's decision to exit the Paris Climate Accord. But politicians will take money for anything, regardless, especially Republicans.

In the Washington Post, Ishaan Tharoor made a startling statement: "If Trump quits the Paris climate accord, he will lead the U.S. into the wilderness." It was the headline for his article speculating that should Trump take that course, we, the United States, go against the rest of the world. And he did. And we have. What is most interesting is that local governments across the country have rebuffed DT's decision, insisting they will support the Paris Climate Pact. At the same time the nation's top CEOs say Trump is dead wrong in his decision.

Even the president's daughter, Ivanka Trump, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson were supposedly urging Trump to stick with the Paris agreement, according to Tharoor, but Tillerson's former company, Exxonmobil ranks #2 in historic greenhouse gas emissions. There are opponents including...

"White House chief adviser Stephen K. Bannon and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, a climate skeptic who has already set about dismantling Obama-era regulations on the U.S. fossil fuel industry."

Bannon, of course, is considered one of the architects of Donald Trump's decision to exit the agreement. The WP provides more background on the Paris agreement...

""Championed by the Obama administration, the Paris agreement created, for the first time, a single framework for developed and developing countries to work together and reduce greenhouse gases."

Former President Obama developed a network of countries that were interested in improving the ecology of the planet, including China, which is #1 in carbon dioxide emissions. The latter, in itself, was considered a major accomplishment because China had always refused to participate in any ecological agreements. The pact was signed by 195 countries, with only Nicaragua, Syria and the United States, #2 polluter, not participating. There's more fallout...

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla announced that he's quitting the president's business advisory councils because of the decision. He twittered, "Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world." Also, Disney CEO Bob Iger said he will step down "as a matter of principle" from Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum.

The Forum is a group of business leaders organized by Donald Trump, to give Donald Trump advice in protecting the planet. Apparently' the Oval Office moron doesn't listen to anyone, not even industry compatriots. 

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

Biden depends on unity to beat Trump's "divider in chief"

Joe Biden-Unity in 2020

It's not enough that Democrats are angry with Donald Trump's election and the direction he has taken the country in. There also has to be an influx of Republicans who have made a left turn and feel the same way. In a former blog I quoted a reliable source that said 20% of Trump's 2016 voters have soured on him. I closed the post saying, 'Hold that thought.' Joe Biden avoids the anger for Trump approach with an appeal for unity in America. Will it win in 2020?

Joe Biden doesn't believe anger will win in 2020, even when T-rump used " it to win over the Republican base in 2016, saying he gladly carries the 'mantle of anger.'" He's been mad ever since and just look at what shape he has put the country in. A good economy does not excuse the Oval Office lunatic's white nationalism, bigotry, blatant racism and women's abuse, to name only a few. I did a post yesterday that explains it: "Less than half of Trump supporters like him."

Rebecca Traister, author of the book "Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger," retorted, "Biden is 'deeply wrong' that 'Anger at injustice has catalyzed transformative change; 'unity' has not.'" Another voice...this a writer from Rolling Stone, Jamil Smith added, "Women, people of color, and other Democratic constituencies aren't angry like Trump and his followers. They've been pissed off in a whole different way. "She doesn't explain how.

Biden also mentions reaching across the aisle as an approach to unifying Congress, something that many Democrats have criticized. With people like Senate head, Mitch McConnell, sitting on the other side of the aisle, I can understand the reluctance of the Dems. And then there's Barack Obama, to back or not to back. To begin with, the former president hasn't offered and second is whether this would help or hurt Biden.

Lee Drutman of Vox speaks of the Joe Biden “epiphany” theory "that Republicans will have an epiphany about the power of bipartisanship once Trump is gone and start working with Democrats again." Drutman says no way, and I wholeheartedly agree, at least as long as the ogre of the Senate is still around. Drutman argues...

"The problem with Biden’s theory is that Republicans’ hostility to Democrats did not begin with Donald Trump (see, the Obama administration). 

Today, as in 2012, the partisan hostility is highly transferable. It is based neither in opposition to one president nor loyalty to another. It is based in the underlying zero-sum electoral logic that defines the American two-party system and the winner-take-all elections that make the two-party system possible."

Not said, but certainly not forgotten, is racist Mitch McConnell's hatred of President Barack Obama, with his vow that he would make Obama a one-term president if it was the last thing he ever did. He didn't, which shows what a lowlife this jerk is, and the fact that he may not be as powerful as he thinks he is, perhaps just a fat blowhard. Biden talks about Trump's divisiveness while we regularly see the maniac's favorability improve, still holding on to his loyalists.

In one case in Pennsylvania, Joe Biden jumps back and forth between his unity issue and the put-down of Donald Trump. This state is important to Biden in 2020, where Trump barely won in 2016; part of the "blue wall" of Democratic industrial states. The former V.P. is headquartered in Philadelphia and in rallies continued to call Trump the 'divider in chief.' Biden spent time on the issues, including climate change and health care, making comparisons with Obama.

If there is anything this country needs it is unity, something we haven't seen for years, back through many presidents. We need it on the local level, between states, and most of all in Washington. The U.S. Congress is in a complete state of diversity, inconsistency, division, discord, strife, disarray, hostility, almost all-out warfare. There aren't enough antonyms of unity to show the disunion of that body of outright incompetent morons. Maybe Joe has the right idea.
 

Gallup produces blueprint for Democrat's strategy

Unfortunately for outgoing President Joe Biden, the American public is fundamentally negative about his four years in office on 18 economic, national and international issues. Here's the scenario from Gallup...

"Majorities of Americans think the U.S. has lost ground in six areas over the past four years, including the federal debt (67%), immigration (64%), the gap between the wealthy and less well-off (60%), the economy (59%), the United States’ position in the world (58%) and crime (51%). Pluralities also say the nation has fallen behind in six other areas: education, terrorism, trade relations with other countries, race relations, the nation’s infrastructure and energy."

Gallup continues...

"Meanwhile, U.S. adults are more likely to see progress (39%) than regression (23%) or steadiness (31%) on just one of the issues -- the situation for gay, lesbian and transgender people."

Joe Biden through the years

In the report there seems to be no progress in climate change and the problems of African Americans. The U.S. is split on healthcare, national defense, the military, and taxes, in relation to their standings. I read recently where one of the reasons Americans did not vote for Biden was that his administration lectured to the public over issues not important to voters. In a progress report, Gallup has determined just where the U.S. population stands on the 19 most important areas during President Biden's four years.

The gay/lesbian community came out best with 39% saying progress was made. 31% felt it stood still and 23% felt it lost ground. Biden received his lowest grades on the federal debt and immigration, with 67% and 64% saying he lost ground, respectively. Following that were the economy and the United States position in the world, 59% and 58%, respectively, lost ground. There were a couple I was interested in, Gap between the wealthy and less well-off, lost ground 60%, and race relations, lost ground 39%.

The Democrats are obviously more positive over Biden's record than the Republicans. But you have to understand that the GOP has a negative opinion about anything that carries a Democrat label. Here are the comparisons...

"Under Biden, Democrats think the nation has lost more ground than it has gained on the federal debt and the gap between the wealthy and less well-off. On taxes, Democrats are divided over whether the nation has made progress or lost ground, with a majority (63%) believing it has stood still on the issue. Democrats are also split on whether the U.S. has seen progress (30%) or lost ground (33%) on immigration."

"Republicans and Republican-leaning independents perceive the country has lost ground in 17 of the 18 areas over the past four years, with their most negative views on immigration, the federal debt and the economy. The situation for gay, lesbian and transgender people is the only issue on which Republicans think there has been progress under Biden’s stewardship."

There is also a Partisans' Report on Joe Biden's progress included. The full report is worth a read, especially you strategists who are trying to put the Democratic Party back together.

Misinformation was Conceived and Launched by Republicans

 

And it has never been the same. It brought on Fact Checks by several media publications and the well-known Pinocchios from the Washington Post. Fact checking had to work overtime during Donald Trump's time in the White House, but even clearly defeated by Joe Biden, this lunatic continues to rack up the lies. Well over 30,000 to date with some classics by POLITIFACT. It is unreal, as you scroll through these lies that they are attributed to an ex-U.S. President.

The New York Times starts their article with'''

"A few weeks ago, Representative Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican, falsely claimed that the centerpiece of President Biden’s domestic agenda, a $1.75 trillion bill to battle climate change and extend the nation’s social safety net, would include Medicare for all."

It does not and never has, but the pathetic Republican supporters either don't have the brains to check things like this out or they just don't care. And by the way, Crenshaw used this outright lie to raise money for his candidacy. Emails, that's how he spread his message of deceit, the manner in which many politicians communicate these days. I was working in the junk mail industry when emails were first initiated but this political crap far outdoes the junk emails.

In a New York Times project info on how "to track how widely false and misleading statements were being used to help fill political coffers." Republicans and Democrats are guilty"...

"One Republican, for instance, declared that Democrats wanted to establish a “one-party socialist state,” while a Democrat suggested that the party’s Jan. 6 inquiry was at imminent risk because the G.O.P. 'could force the whole investigation to end early.'”

There was a huge percentage difference between Republican and Democrat misinformation. The former 15%, the latter 2%. Like I said earlier, The GOP invented misinformation. Here's an interesting fact...

"In addition, multiple Republicans often spread the same unfounded claims, whereas Democrats rarely repeated one another’s."

There is so much more to discover in the NYT article that I urge you to read the entire piece. 

Bernie says don't impeach Trump-He's right

Bernie says the most important thing to him in the time left leading up to the 2020 election is to see that Donald Trump is not reelected. That would be the attitude of most of the U.S. population, minus the Trump hard core supporters, which was around 18% in 2018. I have been in contact with a few of these uninformed citizens recently and can say their less than rational mentality will never change. As I mentioned in another post today, much of the Trump base is completely disenchanted with the Oval Office lunatic and are looking hard at Bernie Sanders. The gist of Bernie's statement...

"At the end of the day, what is most important to me is to see that Donald Trump is not re-elected president, and I intend to do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen."

 He does want a thorough investigation by the House and would reconsider his position if anything damaging to Trump were to develop. Meanwhile, here's CNN Politics assessment of the right direction for Democrats...

1) Abandoning the Mueller report conclusions is unacceptable to the party's political base.
2) Impeachment will allow Trump to paint himself as a victim of overly partisan Democrats looking to run him out because they lost an election.
3) Senate Republicans will simply not abandon Trump en masse, ensuring that even if impeachment succeeds in the House, Trump will not be removed from office.

Bernie's position is, and I agree, that the left shouldn't fight a campaign of personalities, rather, emphasize the issues like healthcare, minimum wage, climate change, gun control and racism. A sensible public is not interested in revisiting the bizarre antics of a moron who has proven time after time that he is unfit to be president of the United States. And since impeachment is the epitome of Bernie's base, he must justify this position by convincing his people he can win in 2020. Early polls show him well out front in New Hampshire, but Joe Biden declaring tomorrow could change things.

Should We Cancel Thanksgiving This Year? NO but...

 

Starting with the corruptive enigma that almost brought down this country, Donald Trump has decided to run for President again.

I, and millions more can't be thankful for that.

I am not thankful for the amount of animal abuse and cruelty that is going on in the U,S, and in the world. In this country an estimated 115 million animals in science labs are killed every year for chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics research. Every 60 seconds, one animal suffers abuse; Every year, more than 10 million animals die from abuse in the US alone; There are over 10,000 puppy mills in the United States.

Millions are definitely not thankful for this. And I do not see how anyone could abuse an innocent animal; it takes a sick human being to do something like this.

Next, the idiot Elon Musk, a leader in electric vehicles, recently bought Twitter and is slowly but surely dismantling one of the best social medias the world has known.

Again, myself and millions can't be thankful for that.

A number of viruses, infections, new variants and most recently a deadly fungus threaten the U.S. population. How did it start and then spread so fast?

Once more, millions recognize that beginning with the pandemic and continuing with the current onslaught of calamities must, to some degree, be blamed on anti-vaxxers that we certainly can't be thankful for.

A recent blue tsunami in the November election is something to be thankful for, but the GOP although barely winning the House, does open the door to idiocies like the Hunter Biden investigation being planned by Jim Jordan.

Certainly nothing to be thankful for on either side of the aisle.

And then there are Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, the shallow and brainless Bobbsey twins that barely tip the meter of double-digit IQs.

If you really searched high and low, there is absolutely no way to be thankful for these two idiots. 

Look at gun violence. With two recent incidents of mass shootings at the Univ. of Virginia and another at LGBTQ Club, Club Q, eight are dead along with multiple injuries. There have been 39,005 gun violence deaths so far this year and 34,706 injuries from gun violence.

No one should be thankful for the National Rifle Assn. and its head, Wayne LaPierre, as well as the minions that serve him. Also, those gun nuts out there who have blocked responsible gun legislation.

Perhaps the most pressing problem the world has ever had, climate change is drying up lakes that are critical for reservoirs in the U.S. and causing weather calamities that are changing lives around the world. Although the Republicans take the lead in the denial of this issue. the Democrats have also dragged their feet. WHO estimates that half of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed areas by 2025.

How could anyone possibly be thankful for this.

The U. S. has a Supreme Court that has moved so far to the right there are calls for impeachment for at least two judges, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. In the court's recent decision to in effect repeal the abortion act, Roe v. Wade, millions of women have been compromised, and they are mad as hell. They showed their anger in the recent election by turning back the expected red tide.

Yes, there are millions who are not thankful that the right to control their own bodies has been taken away from them.

Democracy is slowly dying, made possible by the autocratic government of Donald Trump's administration in the White House, supported vigorously by the Republican Party. 

Who could want their rights taken away from them and end up living like basketball star Brittney Griner has been forced to do? But this is the way they do it in a fascist government.

And the last entry leads to the question of whether Americans could live without their right to vote. If Republicans have their way vote will be restricted for some constituents; as an example, the black vote.

I am not thankful for the many laws the GOP has managed to pass and the new drawing of voting districts just to favor the right.

There are more I know but this is enough for now. 

Back to my original question, NO we shouldn't cancel Thanksgiving. What we must do is be thankful that we still have the right to fight tyranny and make it a 2023 resolution to try and mend the fences that have been erected by both the Republicans and Democrats, and return to the use of the two words negotiate and compromise. Without them, we are a lost nation. 

 

Latest Catchup on American Chaos...

Summarizing what is wrong with this country...

Marjorie Taylor Greene fashions herself a Christian White Nationalist, no doubt for votes and attention, but there is really a movement, as CNN describes it: "An 'imposter Christianity' is threatening American democracy."

. . .

And more..."White Christian Nationalism ‘Is a Fundamental Threat to Democracy’"

. . .

Former Koch executive, Marc Short, testifies before a grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 attack. Short was close to Chas. Koch and has shilled for the fossil fuels industry. There is hope...

"that the U.S. Department of Justice peels this onion all the way to its corrupt core – the unbridled Koch money machine — something that the January 6 House Select Committee has yet to do."

. . .  

The climate crisis could not be pointed out more vividly than in this headline: "Anglers asked to fish out two reservoirs before they dry up."

 . . .

In another Chas. Koch move, "This nation is scorching in a heat wave and wildfires, yet it's returning to planet-baking coal."

. . .

Mark Finchem just won his primary for Arizona's Sec. of State, which will include control over election certification. READ: "Trump-Backed Conspiracy Theorist Vies to Take Over Arizona Elections." He is a Trump lackey and listening to him talk, you would guess he was a lunatic. "He has said he won’t concede if he loses."

. . . 

And further confirmation of Republican plans nationwide to "steal" elections: 

"'This is how Republicans are planning to steal elections': GOP officials refuse to certify primaries."

The RNC's New Plan To STEAL Elections...

. . .

This is beyond frightening...Can you image the damage that will be done to this country and its democracy if Republicans are able to rewrite the Constitution? READ: "Trump-tied conservatives are 15 states away from an unprecedented rewrite of the Constitution."

. . .

I live in Phoenix and it can get very hot, although we have tempered that over the years with 'It's a dry heat.' Well, climate change has now thrust a period of humidity into the state of Arizona that is, to say the least, uncomfortable. Don't let anyone tell you they have learned to live with it, but in 25 years we have learned to tolerate the heat. That is, however, not so easy for the homeless. Now help is here: "A day with America’s only dedicated heat team in the US’s hottest city."

. . .

Agreed, media headlines, especially the Internet, are supposed to be grabbers, and often way overreacting to the issue. Well, this just posted from NPR certainly fits that premise, except it is not overreacting. Number one, it is from a very credible National Public Radio; second, based on the Putins, Donald Trumps and the U.S. Republican Congress, it sounds very feasible. READ: "Why the U.N. chief says we are 'one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation'"

'Humanity is one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation'- UN Chief |Nuclear Non-Proliferation...

. . .

First it was Lake Meade, then Lake Powell, the two biggest reservoirs in the country located in the Southwest. Now, "Utah's Great Salt Lake is vanishing amid the megadrought gripping the southwestern United States." The shift in size is from 3,301 square miles down to where it now only holds one-quarter of the volume of water it used to. READ: "Megadrought at Utah's Great Salt Lake Seen From Space in Shocking Images."

. . .

The headline says it best: "The world is ablaze and the oil industry just posted record profits. It’s us or them."

At the age of 90, one has a very different perspective on the above. It's not hopeless, it's really a contentment.

Joe Biden Administration Accomplishments

 

People are still making up their minds before going to the polls next Tuesday. Over 20 million Americans have already voted and the U.S. Elections Project reports that more Democrats than Republicans have voted early. With a turnout of 154.8 million (66.8% 18+) in 2020, and with expectations higher for the 2022 midterms, there should be an onslaught on Nov. 8. Michael Moore says it will be a blue tsunami. It should be, based on the accomplishments of the Biden

administration from Matt Robison of RawStory.

You also must credit certain Democrat congressional members for their support of the President's agenda; and then there are others like Sen. Krysten Sinema of Arizona and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia that fought Biden all the way. However, the Biden administration hasn't done a good job of communicating their record achievements, an effort I hope to rectify here to the best of my ability. So, just before that surge to the polls, here are the real facts on Joe Biden.

Let's start with jobs: The greatest single year of job creation in American history, more than 6 million in 2021, a decrease of 16 million receiving unemployment benefits, and the biggest drop in the unemployment rate in history. Including manufacturing jobs, the biggest yearly increase in US manufacturing jobs in nearly 30 years. Democrats’ new incentives for key industries have already led to announcements of thousands of new manufacturing jobs.

The covid pandemic:  Biden executed the most successful American 

vaccination program in history – from under 1 percent of adults fully vaccinated to over 75 percent, with over 500 million shots administered – and from less than half of schools open to almost all of them.

Budget: Jerome Powell has been in a year-long effort to lower the inflation with some success. And, there is the Inflation Reduction Act which reduces the deficit by $300 billion.

For Safety: The President passed the biggest anti-violence measure in decades, including the Gun Safety bill and strengthening the Violence Against Women Act.

Protecting America and our allies: No country has been more active in the support of Ukraine and its fight against the Russians. Biden also kept the NATO alliance together in support of Ukraine following the Russian invasion, brought in two new countries and took out the world’s number one terrorist, Ayman al-Zawahri.

 Top Moments of Joe Biden's Presidency...

For diversity and equality: Democrats made lynching a federal hate crime, made Juneteenth a federal holiday and Biden appointed more Black women to the US Court of Appeals in one year than any president in history.

Confronting poverty: The Democrats' child tax credit created the largest-ever one-year decrease in childhood poverty in U.S. history, around 3 million kids were affected. Households saying they didn’t have enough to eat dropped by a third.

Healthcare: Democrats’ new tax credits resulted in a record 14.5 million Americans signing up through the ACA, including 5.8 million new people getting coverage. They forced drug companies to negotiate prices for the elderly and capped costs at $2,000 per year. This will save elders thousands annually.

Support the police: Democrats passed 4 bills supporting both police and 

crime victims. During Biden's administration he has had to contend with Republicans, especially Donald Trump, advocating violence.

For Veterans: Democrats allocated funds for hundreds of thousands sickened by burn pits in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

Climate Change: The Inflation Reduction Act includes the largest investment in history to address global warming. Biden rejoined the Paris Climate Accords and the EPA established strong new fuel economy standards.

Roads, bridges, energy: the bipartisan infrastructure bill will finally fix America’s infrastructure. In 2022 alone, repairs are starting on 65,000 miles of roads and 1,500 bridges, with thousands of jobs created.

As you can see, there is something for everyone. Joe Biden may be softspoken and laid back but he acts with the forceful action this country needs to move back into its place in the world as a leader. We need Biden and supporting Democrats to get the job done after the damage the Republican Party has wreaked on America, led by Donald Trump. We need Joe Biden as president to protect our democracy.

  

YOUR DIGEST NEWS OF THE WEEK

Five of the world's biggest environmental problems...

With the facts from the article below, would you think anyone could deny the potential disaster to the planet that is expected? Yes, and I have experienced many of these ostrich types who blame it on greed by the scientific community to obtain research grants...

"Air pollution and climate change: Problem: Overloading of the atmosphere and of ocean waters with carbon. Atmospheric CO2 absorbs and re-emits infrared-wavelength radiation, leading to warmer. air, soils, and ocean surface waters - which is good: The planet would be frozen solid without this."   READ MORE...

Trump supporters believe these 10 utterly fake ‘facts’ about impeachment...

Pathetic Trump supporter

It is true that Donald Trump's supporters are under-educated and suffer from a number of psychotic problems but after the recent revelations in the Ukrainegate controversy, where T-rum actually admitted to pressuring Pres. Zelensky to dig up dirt against his 2020 opponent Joe Biden in return for over $400 million in aid to Ukraine. Here are some more of the fake "facts"...

• That Trump was concerned over corruption in Ukraine.
• That the $450+ million was given to Ukraine on time, not held by Trump.
• Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election.

There's more and you can read it all here.

Congressional deal could fund gun violence research for first time since 1990s...

It has been twenty years since the NRA was able to pressure Congress to pass the Dickey Amendment rule striking $2.6 million from the Centers for Disease (CDC) control budget, in effect eliminating their ability to collect and analyze gun violence statistics. Since then we have had an explosion in gun violence, much of which can be attributed to Wayne LaPierre and his NRA minions. 

Why would the NRA want to stop documenting gun violence if they didn't prove that guns are responsible for the increased bloodshed by innocent citizens? Here is a comment from Mark Rosenberg who was heading the CDC’s research on firearm violence in the 1990s when Congress abruptly cut off funding for the work...

“This is a deal of historic proportions. It ends the horrendous position we’re in, where we don’t even know what works.”

Here's another fact...

"While gun violence is one of the country’s leading causes of death, it receives little research funding. As many people die because of gun violence, for example, as of sepsis infection, yet funding for gun research is less than 1 percent of that for sepsis."   READ MORE...

Here's a concept from former President, Barack Obama: Women are better leaders than men...

I can hear all the bubbas out there, mostly Donald Trump supporters, who would disagree with this, if not only just because they a bubba, but also because to support T-rump, you must consider women simply a commodity for men's pleasure. Well, they aren't and here's Obama's reasoning...

"I'm absolutely confident that for two years if every nation on earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board on just about everything... living standards and outcomes."

I agree and would add, a definite improvement in the demeanor of the world. But I'm not sure just yet who that woman might be. It might even be a Republican and that is really blasphemous for me to say. If I had to take a shot at the current Democratic candidates, it would be Amy Klobuchar, primarily for her level headedness. In another comment, is the ex-President taking a shot at Congress?...

"If you look at the world and look at the problems it's usually old people, usually old men, not getting out of the way."   READ MORE...

There are 91 companies that paid no federal taxes in 2018...

They're supposed to be the finest but nearly 100 companies in the Fortune 500 the first year following passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed by Donald Trump, which was signed into law in December 2017. "The new tax law lowered the statutory corporate tax rate to 21%, but the companies in the report paid an average rate of 11.3%."
had an effective federal tax rate of 0% or less in 2018, according to a new report. This is a study covering

This resulted in federal government bringing in about $74 billion less in corporate taxes than if all the companies had paid the statutory rate. Amazon made this statement...

“Amazon pays all the taxes we are required to pay in the U.S. and every country where we operate, including paying $2.6 billion in corporate tax and reporting $3.4 billion in tax expense over the last three years.”

Here are some of the biggest companies no taxes: IBM; CenturyLink; DowDuPont; Eli Lilly; Goodyear Tire & Rubber; FedEx; Delta Airlines; General Motors; Starbucks; McKesson and a host of others.   READ MORE...

The Atlantic has "The Remedy for Mitch McConnell"...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said to the "No News" network...

“Everything I do during this, [the impeachment Senate trial] I’m coordinating with White House counsel. There will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this to the extent that we can.”

There's more of this crap...

“We have no choice but to take [the impeachment trial] up, but we will be working through this process, hopefully in a fairly short period of time, in total coordination with the White House counsel’s office and the people who are representing the president in the well of the Senate.”

Then we have the looney Lindsey Graham saying...

“This thing will come to the Senate, and it will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly,” he said. “I am trying to give a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind. I’m not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here.”

The Atlantic says...

The two senators appear to need a brief remedial course on their constitutional obligations. Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 of the Constitution declares that 'the Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments.' And when the Senate is sitting 'for that Purpose, [senators] shall be on Oath or Affirmation.'”

What the hell do Republicans, especially these two lowlife Senators, care about the Constitution, or any laws they are governed by? Nothing!   READ MORE...

Trump writes deranged 6-page letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi...

Trump's unhinged letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi is full of his usual lies that have proven false repeatedly. Trump says whistleblower made false report completely contrary to phone call with Zelensky...

Whistleblower's report "has been proven highly accurate. In fact, the rough transcript released by Trump himself showed that the whistleblower's three primary allegations about the call were correct or very close to correct."

Other false claims by the Oval Office lunatic...

• No evidence the whistleblower has disappeared
• That there was no quid-pro-quo confirmed by Ambassador Sondland
• Trump's comment to Zelensky about doing "us" a favor could only be interpreted by this narcissist as referring to himself
• Trump statement "More due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials," is, well, hilarious.   READ MORE...

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao as corrupt as hubby Moscow Mitch...

Keep it in the family is a term Elaine Chou has adhered to repeatedly since being appointed Transportation Secretary by Donald Trump. It seems that she has decided that Kentucky, Moscow Mitch's home territory as Senator, is where she wants to spend the Transportation Department's budget. The latest her part in delivering a "$67 million federal contract to her husband Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s home state of Kentucky."

"Kyle Herrig, president of the anti-corruption group Accountable.US, said the contract—the largest of its kind delivered to Kentucky during the three years President Donald Trump has been in office—is just the latest example of Chao’s behavior that warrants a serious look."

Herrig has more...

“The unending stream of stories that detail the depth of Secretary Elaine Chao’s improper use of taxpayer dollars to boost her husband Mitch McConnell’s political career is alarming. This type of political corruption is a threat to our democracy and destroys Americans’ faith in government.”

Moscow Mitch has tough competition coming up in 2020 against opponent Amy McGrath, and many are wondering " if Chao is funneling federal projects to Kentucky to help her husband. Kentucky Democrats deputy executive director Marisa McNee told Politico that "in northern Kentucky is a willingness to walk away from that Republican label that we haven’t seen in a long time.” We can only hope that plays out to a defeat of Moscow Mitch in 2020.

Fox News Napolitano buries Donald Trump...again...

Fox's Napolitano roasts Trump

In a recent Washington times editorial, legal analyst Andrew Napolitano, from the normally no-news Fox network chides Donald Trump, “no person is beneath the laws’ protections. No person is above the laws’ requirements. And the laws apply equally to all people.” Napolitano continues...

"Attorney General Bill Barr used these claims as justification to “brush aside” the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller, 'who found enough evidence to charge President Donald Trump with obstruction of justice after Mr. Trump repeatedly attempted to interfere with Mr. Mueller’s investigation by ordering subordinates to lie to FBI investigators or to falsify government documents that investigators sought.'”

One might assume here that AG Barr should also be impeached and thrown in jail for his obstruction of justice. Can't help quoting because Napolitano's comments are so damning...

“High crimes and misdemeanors is a basis for impeachment, the constitutional remedy for presidential behavior that subverts our democratic institutions. In Mr. Trump’s case, we have undisputed evidence that he abused his power by inviting a foreign government to interfere in the 2020 presidential election and then compounded this by directing subordinates to refrain from giving congressionally commanded evidence of his behavior.”

Looks like the sane people at Fox News, Trump's former bastion of support, also including Chris Wallace, are getting smart

Moscow Mitch's Senate legislative graveyard reveals latest "stack" of ignored House bills...

Moscow Mitch

Senate leader Mitch McConnell has vowed to stonewall anything that is proposed by the Democratic House. In another area, Moscow Mitch is pushing through conservative federal judges faster than they can be seated. This is blatant cronyism at its worst and just another partisan act he will have answer for in 2020. Here's the latest on the "stack"...

"The stack, a symbolic replication of legislation McConnell refuses to bring to a vote, was reportedly the brainchild of Senator Debbie Stabenow. According to her office, it includes more than 300 bills about voter registration, background checks for firearm sales, domestic violence, climate change, minimum wage increases and other issues."

Here's McConnell's comment...

"Back in September, McConnell promised to be a "grim reaper" to any and all progressive legislation. But, as multiple Senators pointed out Wednesday, more than 275 of these "dead" bills cleared the House with bipartisan support."

You did get that these bills the lowlife is sitting on passed the House with bipartisan support? If I were given the opportunity to dream up the retribution that is deserved by Moscow Mitch--and his wife as well for her corruption feeding McConnell's district monied projects--I would gladly take on the project while reacquainting myself with all the recent torture tools available. Mongrel Mitch has proven that he cares nothing for this country, only himself. 
READ MORE...

Nancy Pelosi won't commit to sending articles of impeachment to Senate...

Moscow Mitch is fuming because Speaker Pelosi is giving back the kind of strategy McConnell has continually used against Democrats: Stonewalling. She is holding on to the Articles of Impeachment which were passed on Wednesday, not passing them on to the Senate for a vote, apparently to force the Senate head to agree to a fair trial. You wonder if anything "fair" is possible where Republicans are in involved but you have to agree, it's definitely appropriate.

Moscow Mitch needs it shoved in his face with the kind of class Democrats practice compared to the crude and abusive way the Republicans have approached impeachment. Here's Pelosi's Thursday morning comment...

"I don't think they [the Founding Fathers] suspected that we could have a rogue president and a rogue leader in the Senate at the same time."

Some conservatives say they see no reason to hold up the Articles, but in the same breath "argue there is no benefit in delaying something they don't want to spend time on anyway." This illustrates the mentality of a GOP that are in complete denial of their Constitutional responsibility, backing Donald Trump no matter what, and focusing solely on maintaining power. And then the poor soul Lindsey Graham has the audacity to say this...

"We cannot have a system where the House impeaches the president, tells the Senate how to conduct the trial, holds the articles of impeachment over the president's head at a time of their choosing to unleash them."

 Apparently, the South Carolina Senator just forgot about the Republican buffoons of the House impeachment inquiry, guys like Devin Nunes, Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz. Maybe Graham is getting too old to serve in Congress.