Fox: The nada news network

Who else? Bill O'Reilly

I can honestly, and proudly, claim that I have not watched Fox News in years. In my earlier days I might have strayed there when I couldn't find anything elsewhere. It wasn't owned by Rupert Murdoch then; he didn't buy Fox until 1985, from Fox Entertainment Group who owned 20th Century Fox Studios. A move from class to tacky and tasteless. 20th Century Fox was where MASH was filmed in the 1970s and 1980s. My wife met the entire cast of "Young Frankenstein" in the commissary during its filming in early 1970. Little did anyone know at the time.

Then in bursts the Rupert family acquiring the Fox Network and immediately spied not only a great platform for radical conservatism, but also a gravy train of revenue from not too bright conservatives that were dying for news but who wanted to remain uninformed. Meaning, they were anxious to look at something presented by the far left but nothing they would have to think about. Bingo, the new Fox News Network sporting people like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Meghan McCain, Ben Carson, Megyn Kelly of Donald Trump fame, and of course Bill O'reilly. There are more but less famous.

Roger Ailes used to to be the head of Fox News and is generally credited with putting the network where it is today. Along with some outstanding personalities to beef up the ratings. But it was also Ailes that started the momentum for sexual harassment lawsuits. Not to be outdone, the most obnoxious person on the air, Bill O'reilly, decided to dip into the company inkwell, and these days the Fox channel is known as the place to go for female TV personalities who want to have sex. But they eventually get wise and turn t all into a money making lawsuit. O'Reilly is the latest on trial.

However, the poor double digit souls who watch Fox seem to eat it up, and the network seems to thrive even more because of the scandals. Shows you the mentality of its audience, and why Donald Trump is now President of the United States. Here's the pathetic story behind all this...

"The network just finished the first three months of the year with the biggest quarterly audience a cable news network has ever had. It’s watched more than any other cable network, including the entertainment ones, and O’Reilly leads the way. Fox is the home for fans of President Donald Trump and Trump himself, who frequently tweets about its shows and reporting."

There's really nothing else to say but...HELP!

Friday T-rump STUPID Roundup

After campaigning as the champion of the working class, Donald Trump has carefully organized an enclave of only the rich to advise him. "...disclosures showed that Trump’s top aides have generated millions of dollars from Wall Street, Hollywood, real estate and the media, holding a slew of investments that intensify the administration’s challenge in navigating potential intersections between officials’ personal finances and their policymaking roles." It all adds up to $2.3 billion. Being the Democratic Socialist I am, can you imagine breaking that up among the U.S. homeless?

Donald John's head of the Federal Communications Commission wants to halt small and rural Internet providers from offering subsidized broadband connections to low-income Americans nationwide. The reason given has to do with a Reagan era act called Lifeline, that provided subsidies for seniors, veterans and rural Americans that is more state run than federal. "Opponents of the decision said the move will limit struggling Americans' ability to choose a good provider, particularly in rural or low-income areas." Anyway you cut it, they're telling business what they can do.

The Daily Beast makes the statement that Jared Kushner is perhaps the only Donald Trump adviser that cannot be fired. Even if he starts WW III? And with the stupidity that surrounds this clan, and the fact that Kushner appears to be circumventing State department power, with absolutely no experience in foreign policy, I personally think it's possible. This all comes from the fact that former adviser, Roger Stone, claimed to host Alex Jones that Trump’s own son-in-law Jared Kushner was leaking information to MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough. Want to reconsider DJ?

What does Donald Trump do when his top adviser resorts to juvenile behavior, and it is with his second top adviser? But wait, there's another factor here; number one is his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Number two is Steve Bannon, the trusted white nationalist aide who Trump has placed a lot of trust in for advice. But now Bannon has been removed from the National Security Table, as Ivanks joins her husband in complaining about Stevo's ideologies and their negative effects on daddy's issues. Like Stan Freberg said: High School Ooh Ooh.

ISIS just described Donald Trump in Arabic terms as an "idiot," which is close enough to stupid to be included in this post. And there is a reason for this they use, saying he doesn't know anything about Islam. I doubt seriously if he is well versed on the faith, but this would explain his stupidity for banning entry to the U.S. of some predominantly Muslim nations by lumping all Islamists into one group of terrorists. "Trump has pledged to 'totally obliterate ISIS,'" according to a piece in NBC News. This bit of strategy no doubt compliments of Steve Bannon.

And finally, John Oliver, host of the HBO political talk-show Last Week Tonight, has dubbed Donald Trump's Russian connection as "Stupid Watergate." Oliver says it is, “a potential scandal with all of the intrigue of Watergate except everyone involved is really bad at everything.” If Donald John is really trying to cover up something, he's doing a worse job than Richard Nixon. Devin Nunes, is out, Mike Conaway is in, wearing a Trump "Make America Great Again" cap. Odds are he could be worse than Nunes but there's no doubt who he favors from the get go.

Coal is for Christmas stockings

What the U.S. has to look forward to

Progressive, former developing countries like Chile decided to look to solar rather than stick with coal power. As a matter of fact, coal-fired power plants dropped 62 percent over the past year worldwide, according to a survey by the Sierra Club. The Washington Post reports...

An investor in Chile wanting to build a hydroelectric dam or coal-fired plant potentially faces years of costly political battles and fierce resistance from nearby communities.

 The environmental impact of coal is horrendous. As an example...

• Coal-fired power plants are responsible for one-third of America’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. 
• Coal combustion waste is the nation's second largest waste stream after municipal solid waste.
• Forests are destroyed by mountaintop removal mining.
• Coal causes a loss or degradation of groundwater.
• Transportation of coal releases air pollution such as soot and can lead to disasters that ruin the    environment.

But the new U. S. President of Profit has decided we need to create more jobs at the expense of destroying the environment so he picks the coal industry as the next goal for all this increased employment. The problem with this is that the entire coal industry employs fewer people than Arby's. That's right, a U.S. fast-food chain has more people working for it than all the coal companies nationwide. But Donald John apparently doesn't see the ignorance in his efforts, because this is a passionate group and it got him top TV exposure. They like him, they like him.

Industry experts have pointed out repeatedly, that the coal jobs are extremely unlikely to come back. The plight of the coal industry is more a function of changing energy markets and increased demand for natural gas than anything else. Coal is basically dead, and from here on should be relegated to once a year Christmas stockings. Besides, from experience over the years, coal mining companies have placed minimum emphasis on safety with the former CEO of Massey Energy convicted of conspiracy to willfully violate mine health and safety standards in 2015.

It gets worse: "Coal contains minor amounts of the radioactive elements, uranium and thorium. When coal is burnt, the fly ash contains uranium and thorium at up to 10 times their original levels. And, its 500 tons of small airborne particles, can cause bronchitis, reductions in lung function, increased hospital and emergency room admissions, and premature death. It also contains arsenic, lead and mercury. Solid waste from a typical 500MW coal plant contains 120,000 tons of ash and 193,000 tons of coal sludge from the smokestack scrubber." (Excellent stats thanks to Sourcewatch.org)

Here's one. Trump is cutting back on Obama's environmental protections but then instructs "...federal regulators to rewrite federal rules to reduce carbon emissions." Are they different? Are they better? Or is this just a way to delay and eventually do nothing? I vote for the latter. Apparently a $39 million cost figure under Obama's plan can't be confirmed, but isn't saving the environment worth spending a significant amount of money on? The problems of the appalling conditions in China have been used to signify a need to take action in the U.S. before it is too late.

In total, the statistics may not be real but the problem of pollution in America is very real.

Hackers will get politicians web history and have a field day

If they can break into the National Security Council, they can find out what Senators and House members are doing online. It's just a matter of time and who has the bucks to pay for it. I choose Anonymous because of its known presence in the U.S. and the fact that they easily hacked into a security firm for charity donations which could translate into a budget to coop with other hackers to buy what they cannot hack themselves. Nothing is secure against these people when they make up their minds to do something. They lean left and would consider Republicans fair game.

ISP's are professing the fact that they will not sell our private information, but what if they don't have a choice? Suppose someone takes it?  And then there's the question of whether or not the two GoFundMe campaigns would buy the data from an illegal source. But it's really not important that there is a buyer if an organization like Anonymous has the information in hand. If they do, you can bet that it will soon become public. And you can bet that the GOP Congress, backed by Donald John, will make it impossible for anything to be obtained legally.

PC World reports...

"Still, providers of so-called marketing cloud services—think Salesforce and Oracle—track web users and develop extensive profiles based on shopping and web-browsing habits, said privacy advocate Jeffery Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy."
"It’s likely possible to buy the web marketing profile of individual politicians from a marketing cloud provider, if not an ISP, including the kinds of websites they like to visit, by targeting them using their general location and other publicly available information," he said.

 And then Chester added, “Let the web monitoring and surveillance of the politicians begin.”

But the recent congressional action makes it impossible for consumers to now opt-out in sharing, "...sensitive personal information, including web-browsing history, geolocation, and financial details with third parties." What this means is that the banks can now make hay with not only your money market account where the interest is paltry, but the Republicans have made it possible to sell everything they know about you. Both privacy advocates and one actor are attempting to raise the money to buy congressional names...

"In an effort to strike back against the Republican-led legislation to roll back the FCC privacy rules, advocate Adam McElhaney has raised more than $205,000 since March 25 to buy the personal history of top politicians supporting the resolution."

"Actor Misha Collins has raised more than $86,000 in the last six days in a similar GoFundMe campaign, although he’s well short of his $500 million goal."

What all this says is that the general public does not like the republican Congress.

Back in 2012 I did a piece on supplementing Social Security with junk mail. That year the industry was grossing over $4 billion on the names and personal data of American citizens, which I felt the individual should at least share in. Well, even privacy advocates wouldn't support me because some of their efforts were funded by the people I targeted. My point here is, if it was a $4 billion business years ago, it has grown since then. And the sale of financial data attached to a person is significantly more valuable just by its nature. The banks stand to make even more millions off this data.

Advocate Adam McElhaney, who has already raised $205,000 since March 25 to buy the personal history of top politicians, allows supporters to vote on whose web browsing histories they want to see. Number one is Paul Ryan, two is House member Marsha Blackburn with Mitch McConnell coming in third. The campaign is in its infancy and it's anyone's guess how much these people might raise. There is one down-side to this and that is the possibility this information could get in the hands of either Russian or Chinese hackers where the wheels come off as far as honor.

And of course there is the group that sponsored Richard Snowden, Tailored Access Operations who has 600 employees in the main NSA complex in Fort Mead, Maryland. If that's the case, they could literally embed their people in every ISP in the world. The site TurboFuture lists the ten "Most Powerful (Known) Active Hacking Groups" in the world and a reading of these makes one wonder if there is any reason to protect anything private. With the protection of secrecy and the tools available to these people, you have to believe 1984 is here...again.

Bernie Sanders "TV exploding online"

Those are the words of Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, on the video below that goes into detail on how Bernie Sanders is getting out the Progressive word. This is a must see.

Bernie Sanders is back and this time he plans to win

Elizabeth Warren-Bernie Sanders

When I say win, Bernie Sanders is already in overdrive to elect more Progressives in the 2018 midterms and, yes, I think he is shooting for the presidency again in 2020. But I hope that Elizabeth Warren will see the light and support his candidacy this time, no matter who the Democratic Party plans to run. And there is a definite difference between Democrats and Progressives, a point that is confirmed by the fact that Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, lost the election to an incompetent candidate who is also defined as a pathological liar by Sanders. The new Republican president, Donald Trump.

Just yesterday Elizabeth Warren  with Bernie Sanders introduced a new tuition bill that would make college education available to all,regardless of who they are. "Education should be a right, not a privilege," according to the Bern, an issue he has been promoting since first starting his 2016 presidential race. "The legislation includes a joint-bill in the House which would be introduced Wednesday by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn.," according to a statement provided to International Business Times.

This should arouse the Progressives out there who have been on the sidelines wanting something to happen. That includes me, and I am now ready to roll on to upending a Republican Congress to putting Bernie sanders and Elizabeth Warren in the White House in 2020. Don't laugh, conservatives, it has been some time now since the left has had this much reason for the momentum to get the right job done. With Hillary history, and Sanders as the most popular political candidate in the U.S. the cross-country fight for legislative and governor's seats will now be easier.

And the Sanders/Warren people aren't alone. Not satisfied that enough was being done, two major groups have formed to elect Progressives in 2018 and 2020. The first is Justice Democrats, started by the founder of the Young Turks, Cenk Uygur, who said that he was starting the organization because it needed to be done and no one else was doing it. The second is Brand New Congress which was originally started by a group of volunteers and staffers from the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. They want, "...to be a big tent for anyone who is tired of partisan politics."

The latest information is that these two groups recently merged, which is a good start for the new aggregation.

Somewhere in the future it will be necessary to galvanize all these efforts into one cohesive group that supports Progressivism in order to move ahead as a collective organization. NBC News takes us back to the 2016 convention to point out where the left might take us...

"But the more radical strain, which led hundreds of Sanders delegates to walk out of the Democratic National Convention in protest last summer, is still present on the left and emboldened by the loss of Hillary Clinton and their belief that Bernie would have won."

"Some are betting that the disaffected left is as or more interested in remaking the Democratic Party as it is in fighting President Donald Trump."

What is needed now is a defined structure to get there. And that is why all these splinter groups will have to bite the bullet and find one common denominator that will rebuild, or replace, if necessary, the Democratic Party with one that will serve the people and not a political clique. Corbin Trent of Brand New Congress said...

"The point is we've watched this party over the last decade lose over 1,000 seats, lose a national election to least popular nominee in history, Donald Trump, and now we've seen poll after poll showing the Democratic Party less popular since election day. What we think is the American people are ready for a new direction."

The American people were ready for a new direction in 2016, namely Bernie Sanders, proven by the fact that he won 23 primaries with 1,865 delegates, winning just one-hundred less votes in the Democratic Primary than Donald Trump did in the Republican Primary. But he didn't win because of the shenanigans of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which has now resulted in the firing of two top politicos. Unfortunately, Tom Perez heads the DNC now, instead of Keith Ellison, which is another result of Party hardliners. See, they will never learn.

Although Republicans profess not to be worried, they should take note of the fact that the Tea Party almost upended the Party in 2009 and 2010, proving that a grassroots kind of movement can be effective. But this will require the passion of all liberals, including those who regularly rally around the Party. Just after the 2016 election, I did a post, "What do Republicans have that Democrats don't?" and the answer was passion. Some of those that didn't like Hillary Clinton either didn't vote or for some stupid reason, voted for Donald Trump.

In that case the "Party" would have been better than what we ended up with. We are not in that position approaching 2018 and 2020, and there is plenty of time to build on your passion by looking at the daily antics of the Oval Office maniac. If this isn't enough to make you crave for a change to the kind of government you would get from Bernie Sanders, then you don't want to live in the kind of country I do. That, of course, is your choice.

Paul Ryan continues to pursue his health care nightmare

Paul Ryan

Paul Ryan, the shaky Speaker of the House, says he doesn't want to work with Democrats on health care. This was Donald Trump's idea, predicting Obamacare will soon go down in flames and Democrats will be willing to cooperate. Ryan feels that won't work but only has one more option and that is to unify Republicans. Here were Trump's words in a tweet...

"The Democrats will make a deal with me on healthcare as soon as ObamaCare folds - not long. Do not worry, we are in very good shape!"

Most political experts say this isn't likely to happen. As far as unifying Republicans, this won't happen as long the Freedom Caucus' Mark Meadows is running their show. Trump recently pushed Meadows to the point the latter had to stand his ground in defiance of Donald John who tweeted this recently...

The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!

Doesn't sound like unification talk to me. And here's something else re. all these Donald Trump tweets. Is the new czar of the universe afraid of a press conference where he has to face real people with real questions that ask for real answers? We know Trump's assessment of the press, but wouldn't you consider hiding behind his cell phone tweeting everything a bit cowardly? This runs hand-in-hand with his generous use of Executive orders instead of attempting to get his programs through Congress. Perhaps he just hasn't anything substantive.

Conservatives want to unify the Party again and Paul Ryan apparently believes now that is the only way the GOP will get anything done in this congress. Ryan's predecessor, John Boehner, fought the conservative right the entire time he served as House Speaker with no success. He finally just quit. Does this mean that the separation within the Republican Party is so analytically impossible to unify, that, as long as the GOP is in power, the government will remain in chaos? It looks like this might be the case looking as far back as the George W. Bush administration.

Here's an example of the inability to work together...

"But so far, Republicans haven’t proven that’s in the realm of possibility. Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) told reporters that the moderate Tuesday Group agreed Wednesday that they would not meet or work with Freedom Caucus members. 'If that call comes in, just hang up,' Collins said."

Chris Conover of Forbes says Trump will not repeal and replace Obamacare. Prior to this piece, he had cited partisan opposition and partisan rancor over the debt ceiling coming up soon, and now focuses on the fact that Trump himself is the reason Republicans will fail. Here's how Politico's Tim Alberta put it...

"faced with his first major test, the president failed—on multiple occasions and on many levels."

Sounds to me like a mandate on both the GOP control of Congress and Donald Trump himself. The question is, how long will the American people accept this utter nonsense from our government? DT was the least equipped in health care of all the competitors for the 2016 Republican nomination, remarks Conover. I would add that Donald John is the least equipped to be President of the United States based purely on his moral values and his contentious and freaked out temperament. The Governor's Conference even ridiculed him over his lack of health care knowledge.

It goes without saying that he doesn't even measure up to a novice in his understanding of the needs of U.S. health care. And back several years ago he highly favored the parallel to Obamacare, universal health care. An interview in 1998 with Stone Phillips...

Trump: "[I'm] liberal on health care, we have to take care of people that are sick."
Stone Phillips: "Universal health coverage?"
Trump: "I like universal, we have to take care, there's nothing else. What's the country all about if we're not going to take care of our sick?"

Here's a man who either doesn't know what the hell he's for, or simply says what he thinks the people want to hear in order to keep them loving him. It is no wonder that Paul Ryan has gone his own way to get the passage of a Republican health care plan. The problem here is that everything he has come up with so far is crap, agreed to by both Democrats and the GOP. Here's what New York Times reporter Michael Shear said...

"Mr. Trump — who sold himself as a winner who could turn around a country that 'doesn’t win anymore' — has endured a litany of missteps, controversies, resignations and investigations, all of which have dented his 'I alone can fix it' vow to remake government with businesslike efficiency."

No one believes that malarkey anymore but what is worse, in an additional remark by Shear who points out that the U.S. is in the slowest presidential transition in decades. Translated, that means that the good of our country has been put on the back burner, all because of one man. Unfortunately, he happens to be president.

Mike Pence epitome of male version of Mr. Goody Two-Shoes

Mike Pence uneasy with all those legs?

You know them. They're all around us, those people who profess to be the hygienic individuals who wouldn't say shit if they had a mouthful. The Urban Dictionary says they are almost always women, and always go to church, professing their virginity and complete abstinence. I've known some who were absolute hypocrites; we called them "backdoor Baptists" in the South. Pastor comes in the front door of the bar, the Baptists go out the back door. Sometimes it is purely to set up a front to make other people think they are something they aren't and can't be. It's pathetic and it is demeaning.

Mike Pence always looked a little too good to be true to me. Believe the republican Party put him in there in the hopes that Donald Trump would quickly go down in flames and Pence is someone they can control. Well, Donald John could still implode but I am horrified over the possibility of Pence taking over the Oval Office. First of all, he is a dedicated Tea Party supporter, solid grounds for being removed from the planet. Second, the Huff Post reports that, "...unless he is with his wife, he won’t eat alone with a woman or attend an event where alcohol is served."

Oh. My. God! Mr. Goody Two-Shoes.

Is this what he thinks of other women, that they might wrestle him under the table, ripping off his clothes and seducing him between the main course and dessert? What kind of women has this man dated, or was he so shy and introverted he couldn't get a date. In religious circles this is called the "Billy Graham Rule," but where I come from it is called blatant sexism. How has Pence gotten this far in politics? HP says the Graham rule is, "...that men are little better than animals who cannot control themselves and, so, can’t, ultimately, be held accountable." Mike Pence? Don't think so.

In the Huff Post analysis of this practice by some men, it becomes apparent that not only is this something that is measured by a potential intimate relationship between men and women, but that these suppressed feelings by the male can often turn into hostility toward women, and particularly when the guy is the inferior one. It can also show up in the hiring process between the boss, a man, and the potential employee a woman. I personally witnessed a corporate scenario where a wife threatened her husband if he hired a woman the spouse considered too good looking.

The HP writer Soraya Chemaly has one of the best grips on the problems of women in the workplace I have ever read, deserving a full read of the article. She says...

"Today, women are still primarily responsible for children, do an average of two hours more unpaid work a week and make up three quarters of minimum wage workers. Thirty-nine percent of working mothers are sole providers for their families, compared to 43 percent of men, who are twice as likely to be making more than $50K and more than six times as likely to be making six-figure incomes."

Chemaly makes it clear that the current President and Vice President of the U.S. could not be further separated in their morals. Here's Mike Pence, the church going, family man fighting off the "evil temptress" to stay pure, compared to Donald Trump who "is one who sees all women through the filter of his sexual pleasure and violability, including, shamelessly, his own daughter," a phrase I couldn't resist from the author. Read it!

Time to dump the Democratic Party...as we know it

The Democratic National Committee fired its entire staff. That even includes longtime Dem pundit, Donna Brazile, who just recently owned up to the fact that she had slipped Hillary Clinton debate questions based on her connections with CNN. Brazile had earlier fired Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was responsible for the Party being in the shape it is today. She stood by with her finger in her nose while Republicans took over political seats starting with city, county and state, all the way to the House and Senate, resulting in a loss of the White House. These people are a disgrace to the Party.

As The Blaze put it, "... a humiliating rout in an election that pundits widely believed would fall their [Democrats] way..." I am not sure just what good this will do, considering the guy doing the firing is a Dem hardliner. The Party couldn't see past their noses when Bernie Sanders tried to tell them that Keith Ellison was the man for the DNC job. They are, of course, both Progressives. And that brings me to the title of this blog, "Time to dump the Democratic Party...as we know it." As Kenny Rogers put it, "ygot to know when to hold 'em / Know when to fold 'em." Now's the time to fold 'em."

We need to revive the Progressive Party in the format of Bernie Sanders Our Revolution and make it a viable political movement that will give disillusioned Democrats/liberals a place to organize and establish a platform that makes sense to the modern day left. That said, did you know the Progressive Party was first organized in 1912 by Theodore Roosevelt after he lost the nomination of the Republican Party to his former protégé, President William Howard Taft. The Bull Moose version of the Party was dissolved in 1916. No more real activity until 2016 when the Bern came on the scene.

An early attempt at continuing the political positions of Bernie Sanders is by Cenk Uygur, founder of the Young Turks, who has started a movement called, Justice Democrats, whose goal is to put a significant number of Justice Democrats in the Congress. You can see their platform here. And to show how grave the situation was, here is Uygur's comment, "I was hoping someone else would do this, but when no one else was, somebody had to do it.” And of course there are the Progressive Democrats of America, who also mirror the Bern's movement. But so far, we're disjointed.

To correct this there must be a coordinated effort to officially structure a party apparatus that will withstand the organizational challenges of the developing members and the constituents. It will take a strong leader, and, of course, who better than Bernie Sanders? I do not think Sanders is too old to run in 2020, but if the consensus is that he is, there is Elizabeth Warren, and as a dark horse, how about Chuck Schumer? The Senate minority head even supported the Bern's pick of Keith Ellison to head up the DNC, who, unfortunately lost.

If we are to be ready for 2020, things must get moving pretty soon and it will take Bernie's organizational skills to ramp it all up. I will be a constant supporter from my blog and am sure there are many others like me, including the Young Turks. The cry is out there senator Sanders and only you can answer the call.

Friday T-rump STUPID Roundup

With the Wealthy Shepherd's first 100 days in office approaching complete failure, accompanied by a falling approval rate down to 36%, it is a wonder that Donald Trump could herd so many poor souls into his pasture of hate and obscenity; enough to elect him President. A Washington Post poll reports that, "...many Republicans who voted for Trump did so despite their reservations about him — including his temperament and his comments about women, minorities and a disabled reporter." Any woman or disabled person voting for this man is an idiot. Sorry, but true.

Like Daddy, like son. Donald Jr. insults the Mayor of London. Following a terrorist incident in the city when a man ran a car into pedestrians and then fatally stabbed a police officer, the Mayor Sadiq Khan commented the obvious, “Terror attacks are part of living in big city.” The Junior tweeted, "You have to be kidding me?!: Terror attacks are part of living in big city, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan." The mayor wasn't being callous, and The Daily Beast wrote that Trump Jr. "goaded" the mayor of the British capital. Goaded defined: a stick with a pointed or electrically charged end, for driving cattle, oxen, etc.; prod. Now the Trump family is into agriculture.

Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara was investigating a top member of President Trump’s cabinet when he was fired, reports the New York Daily News. That member just happens to be Tom Price, Health & Human Services Secretary, for trading health care stocks even as he was involved in legislation while serving in the House of Representatives. "In December, the Wall Street Journal reported Price traded more than $300,000 worth of shares in health companies over a recent four-year period." Interesting since "Trump had asked him personally to stay on the job."

Jeff Sessions, the raging racist, who also happens to be Attorney General of the U.S., has threatened to withhold funds from sanctuary cities that take in illegal aliens and shield them from the federal government. Sessions is following up on Donald Trump 2016 campaign promises. Reason.com says, "Sessions may not like the idea of sanctuary cities, but sanctuary cites are protected by both the Constitution and by Supreme Court precedent." It's a matter of the 10th Amendment and the "constitutional principles of federalism." Sounds like Law 101. And this is our Atty. General?

Sean Spicer may implode before his boss, Donald John. He's the stupefied doormat between the lunatic and an aroused and pissed off press corp. It's pitiful and everything is right out there for the world to see. Apparently, there was a near meltdown when Spicer got testy with a reporter who got under his "no connection with Russia" skin. After shaking her head at him following her other unanswered questions, he snapped back, “Please, stop shaking your head again.” The mystification is over the fact that Spicer continues to ignore facts on Russia that the FBI is investigating.

President Trump's funding request for a border wall will likely be put on hold. The Hill reports that Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, said that Donald Trump's funding request for a border wall between Mexico will be put on hold to later this year. The GOP is more concerned right now with passing a bill to fund the government through 2017. Apparently, the consensus is that FY17's needs will be much more likely to get approval without the wall that most agree will be an exercise in futility. DJ still batting zero.

Who needs medical research? Certainly not the United States. Donald John tried to repeal Obamacare and failed so now he's taking it out on medical research. Charles Kieffer, Democratic staff director on the Senate Appropriations Committee says Trump is targeting science programs along with a 20% cut in National Institutes of Health's budget, asking for an immediate $1.2 billion cut to the agency. There is no doubt that there are areas ripe for challenge, such as the congressional pork that is passed and you can see 2016 right here. But a flat 20% cut? Probably that which helps the needy.

Trump Internet privacy action spells doom called BIG BROTHER

I worked in the junk mail industry for over 35 years and can vouch for the fact that your personal data is neither private nor is it protected to the extent it should be. So, it comes as no surprise to me that the Congress has just sent Donald Trump legislation that literally obliterates any advances in privacy that former President Obama was able to get passed. Here's the Washington Post's coverage of that milestone by the Federal Communications Commission. It blocked many of the plans of...

"...AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, which had hoped to use their privileged access to user data to build lucrative businesses by targeting advertising across multiple devices."

The greed for data is never-ending and many people ask me, why do you keep harping over the loss of more personal information like this if you claim that most of it is already out there...all over the world? My answer is the same when questioned about my advocacy for gun control, stating that putting more guns on the street won't help the problem like the NRA claims. It just results in more violent deaths as we've seen. Likewise, putting more personal data out there is a huge benefit to businesses wanting to track your personal data, but can end up resulting in more identity theft.

The simplest amount of private information can benefit the identity thieves in finding your most personal and exclusive data, like bank records, passwords, investments, etc. That small need is no more than name and date of birth. That's right, that small measure of data can be matched to your address, which is available everywhere including Facebook, which turns the crooks on to all the bells and whistles they use to walk right into your bank account. If you have never been to the Internet Underground take a look. You'll find your Social security number there if you look hard enough.

So, the Republican morons of Congress, because they want no obstacles in the way of corporate profit, have opened the door to "...what companies could do with information such as customer browsing habits, app usage history, location data and Social Security numbers..." by freeing the likes of AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from earlier restrictions. Here's more from the Senate...

"The Senate has already voted to nullify those measures, which were set to take effect at the end of this year. If Trump signs the legislation as expected, providers will be able to monitor their customers’ behavior online and, without their permission, use their personal and financial information to sell highly targeted ads — making them rivals to Google and Facebook in the $83 billion online advertising market."

Your personal data is sold to junk mail companies for solo offers and their catalog mailings which are in the billions every year. It also goes to other marketers and the financial industry, providing all of them the information necessary to come up with a profile of you that is so scary, it challenges the imagination. It's called targeting, and companies are getting so good that they can very accurately predict the results from any advertising campaign. And get this...

""...the Federal Communications Commission, which initially drafted the protections, will be forbidden from issuing similar rules in the future."

In other words, you no longer have even the minimum of protections, and I would make a bet right now, identity theft incidences will start climbing and 2017 could be a banner year.

Want to know what happens the minute you open your browser and start searching? How-To Geek explains the whole process...

"...your web browser stores data about your browsing history. When you visit a website, your browser logs that visit in your browser history, saves cookies from the website, and stores form data it can autocomplete later. It also saves other information, such as a history of files you’ve downloaded, passwords you’ve chosen to save, searches you’ve entered in your browser’s address bar, and bits of web pages to speed page load times in the future (also known as the cache)."

After reading this, think all is lost? Not really if you choose to use Chrome's "Incognito" window, or Private Browsing, or InPrivate Browsing, sites that will improve your ability to stay private, but are not proof positive. As an example, here is Incognito's caveat...

"Pages you view in incognito tabs won’t stick around in your browser’s history, cookie store, or search history after you’ve closed all of your incognito tabs. Any files you download or bookmarks you create will be kept.
However, you aren’t invisible. Going incognito doesn’t hide your browsing from your employer, your internet service provider, or the websites you visit."

So, with Donald Trump in the White House and as long as Republicans have control of Congress, my advice to you, and also from the top privacy advocates, GO INCOGNITO OR PRIVATE! 

If you're not completely sure yet, read this admonition from Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy...

“Today’s vote means that Americans will never be safe online from having their most personal details stealthily scrutinized and sold to the highest bidder.”

Privacy advocates have been attempting to convince the public for years to be careful who they give their private information to, especially things like your Social Security number and driver license number. Either of those numbers plus a name and address is an invitation for identity thieves to come in and help themselves to everything personal about you. Of course there is some credibility to the fact that the use of this data could help marketers to better target your needs. The problem with these people is, they never know when enough is enough. And the consumer is always the one who suffers.

By the way, the changes in the privacy rules were brought to you by none other than our do-willie Arizona Senator, Jeff Flake, who certainly lives up to his last name. He has been in office for three years and was polled as the most unpopular Senator in Washington, replacing Mitch McConnell. Now, in my opinion, anyone who could replace this asshole must be lower than the bottom of the barrel. Contact Jeff Flake and tell him what you think: AZscheduling@flake.senate.gov Tell him we're all sick of Congress letting big business trample our rights.

GOP now has total control...or does it?

The Rat Pack...Ryan-Trump_McConnell

Donald Trump's future couldn't be shakier after the defeat of Speaker Paul Ryan's American Health Care Act, but even more insecure is Ryan's speakership. He hasn't led this Congress anywhere but in the direction of those issues he favors. But then, this Congress seems only to have the capacity for the perpetuation of hate and opposition to anything Democrat. Trump has made that ideology a priority from the beginning of his campaigning for 2016, right through the inauguration and into the Oval Office. Senate leader Mitch McConnell is absolutely overjoyed.

But what brings McConnell back to earth is Congress' inability to repeal Obamacare. Here's a look at Donald John blowing off about what he would do, which he didn't do...

“We’re going to have insurance for everybody,” Trump told the Washington Post after the election. Under Trumpcare, according to Trump, people “can expect to have great health care. It will be in much simplified form. Much less expensive and much better.”

And then trump tweeted after defeat: “ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!” Always the psychopathic windbag, that would never admit he was wrong or that he has been soundly defeated...by his own Party. This is basically how it has come down over the years, according to Vox...

"This was bolder and brasher than what more establishment-minded Republicans had said over the years. But it was, fundamentally, similar to promises and insinuations made by Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and dozens of other Republicans. It’s not just that the Affordable Care Act was killing jobs and sentencing people to death panels. It’s that Republicans had some much better plan in their back pocket that would give Americans what they want — cheap, comprehensive health insurance that offers them oodles of choice."

Vox is saying that Trump and Republicans are now paying for this great line of bullshit served up by both, even though it helped Republicans win Congress and eventually the White House at the time. But what happens now, when Trump is behind the eight ball and needs to get tax legislation passed? After the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and then enactment of AHCA failed miserably, he will still be dealing with the same Republicans, needing their support even more so since the savings from Obamacare replacement will not be realized. Where will the money come from for reduced taxes?

And there's much more to be done that Donald John promised the poor souls that supported him. As recent as March 15, in Nashville, he was still talking the repeal of Obamacare and chastising judges for blocking his travel bans. And in Louisville, he delivered his populist and nationalist appeal, no doubt crafted by Steve Bannon, to clamp down on illegal immigration and bar terrorists from America. These rallies are designed to garner public support for Trump's programs, but where he should be focusing his efforts is on Congress.

Leading up to the House vote on Obamacare, both Donald Trump and Paul Ryan had promised their own healthcare bill which the Speaker delivered to a very reluctant and disillusioned Congress. The GOP has been pretty well in sync on getting rid of Barack Obama's health care program with Mitch McConnell leading the venomous attack. Here's what conservatives in general thought of the ACA...

"...it taxes rich people too much, and coddles Americans with excessively generous, excessively subsidized health insurance plans. They want a world of lower taxes on millionaires while millions of Americans put “skin in the game” in the form of higher deductibles and copayments. Exactly the opposite, in other words, of what Republican politicians have been promising."

That last sentence says it all. So much promised but nothing delivered. And with 2018 mid-terms coming, Trump's inability to deliver may well weigh heavily on those Republican districts up for grabs. All of the analysis to date is now outmoded since the healthcare fiasco has shown the weakness in the GOP armor, something that will need vast improvement before any new programs are introduced by the Trump administration. And here are more items on the White House agenda...

"...a $1 trillion investment in roads and other infrastructure and proposed crackdowns on both legal and illegal immigration, will require the support of Democrats, many of whom have been alienated by the highly partisan start to Trump’s tenure."

The one high point Trump had was the nomination of Neil Gorsuch for Scalia's Supreme Court seat which looked to be pretty safe until last Friday...

"Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, may fall short of the votes needed for smooth passage in the Senate next week, potentially dashing Republican hopes for an easy victory after the stinging defeat of the American Health Care Act last week."

The above comment from the Washington Post reflects the turmoil created by Paul Ryan's damaging loss with his healthcare program. But even if Gorsuch misses the 60 votes needed, there's still the "nuclear" option available to Republicans; although a right which would get Gorsuch approved, it hasn't even been tried since 1917. That year, instead, it resulted in reform of the Senate's filibuster rules. Bernie Sanders warned against its use, advice that the GOP should consider since a day will come when Democrats will again control Congress and the White House.

Trump's "The Art of the Deal" shattered by Paul Ryan

In November of 1987, Donald Trump's book, The Art of the Deal, was published and received well by the public. Today on Amazon it is 2,662 overall in books, #2 in biographies and memoirs, #13 in business and money and #22 in biographies and memoirs. That is good, considering the number of books published these days and the reviews are mostly positive. But in the book, he warns his readers "Never seen desperate." Well, he blew that theory during the recent blowout of Ryan’s American Health Care Act proposal. It went down in flames in spite of Donald John's disparaging begging.

The Progressive reports that although Trump pledged not to cut Medicare, Ryan's bill cut it $880 billion from the program, and the Freedom Caucus members wanted to cut much more. Ryan's bill which favors the wealthy and large corporations would...

 "...devastate care for the most vulnerable ACA beneficiaries like the poor, disabled, and elderly. The Ryan plan would produce more deaths by swelling the ranks of the uninsured whose untreated conditions prove fatal."

From as far back as his tax-cutting proposals, to his American Health Care Act, Paul Ryan has been one of the most callous politicians toward the poor and needy of anyone I can remember. I can see why the man gets reelected by looking at the demographics of his 1st District in Wisconsin. Median income over $50,000; 91.1% white; 4.7% black; 5% Hispanic; and 57.7% white collar. Although his last election was close, and the next, well, we'll just see. Here's a stark statistic from the health care industry itself, published in the American Journal of Public Health...

"The Republican plan to replace the ACA would leave 52 million people uninsured in 2026. We know that will lead to many deaths—at least 41,969 and perhaps many times that number."

That isn't just callous. That is cold-blooded greed by Republicans to line the pockets of their constituents. And although the Freedom Caucus had a big hand in defeating the AHCA, Bernie Sanders says "Democrats should take credit for killing a really, really bad piece of legislation." Commenting further "Poll after poll showed that's exactly what the American people did not want." On the other hand, Donald Trump said...

"The best thing we can do, politically speaking, is let Obamacare explode. It is exploding right now," Trump said, adding that the 'losers' in the health care battle were Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer."

And Trump continues to blame the Democrats for the GOP bill's failure, which, of course, is fully agreeable to the Bern. Trump, who refused to blame Ryan for the failure of the American Health Care Act The Guardian said this...

"Speaking afterward in the Oval Office, Trump blamed Democrats for the failure of a bill to repeal the signature achievement of Barack Obama. 'If [Democrats] got together with us, and got us a real healthcare bill, I’d be totally OK with that. The losers are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, because they own Obamacare. They 100% own it,” he said.'"

And then, after the melee was over, Paul Ryan proceeded to blame everything on the fact that the Republicans are now the governing Party, and that "...comes with growing pains and, well, we’re feeling those growing pains today. I will not sugarcoat this: this is a disappointing day for us.” What Ryan isn't saying is what is wrong with the entire U.S. government right at this moment, is the fact that Republicans are the governing Party. It was also what was wrong with the U.S. government in Geo. W. Bush's tenure from 2001 to 2009. A disaster that almost brought the country down.

So apparently Obamacare is okay for the time being but isn't it interesting just how volatile this piece of legislation is and the effect it has on a certain percentage of the public. Just a week after the 2016 election, the Kaiser family Poll came up with these findings...

"One-fourth, or 26 percent, of Americans favor a full repeal of the health care law, while 17 percent say scale it back, according to the Kaiser poll. On the other hand, 30 percent favor expanding the law and another 19 percent want lawmakers to move forward with the law as it is."

The Kaiser report also found that there was a decline in the percentage of Republicans who want the Act repealed, something that must have had an effect on Paul Ryan's withdrawal of his bill. And here's another insight from Vox into how some Republicans really view the Affordable Care Act...

"Republican leaders and conservative intellectuals, for the most part, didn’t really believe nonsense about death panels or that Obama was personally responsible for high-deductible insurance plans. What they fundamentally did not like is that the basic framework of the law is to redistribute money by taxing high-income families and giving insurance subsidies to needy ones. The details matter enormously to everyday people, but the broad principle is enough to make conservatives reject it."

Wasn't aware there were that many intellectuals in the GOP ranks, but this is a real crowd stopper. Anything republican always comes down to just two factors: 1) How it affects the wealthy; 2) How it affects large corporate business. There is no in between for the average American and until average Americans understand this, voting accordingly, this country will continue to be mired in mediocrity. 

Is Bernie Sanders running for Trump resignation/impeachment?

Bernie Sanders-Chris Hayes MSNBC

Bernie Sanders has been everywhere recently talking about everything from how the Republicans are screwing up to how the Democrats are twiddling their thumbs. As recently as Thursday, he said Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, "...brought the Supreme Court confirmation process to a new low during this week's confirmation hearings." And it was only mid-March that headlines were screaming, "Everyone loves Bernie Sanders. Except, it seems, the Democratic party," headline from The Guardian. It is certain that The Bern is well versed on both sides.

Here's the latest figures on Sanders who is being given the national spotlight regularly these days. 61% favorable, 32% unfavorable. When you look at Donald Trump, who sits in the Oval Office today, DT is only 44% favorable, with an unfavorable rating of 53%. When you take the comparisons even further, Barack Obama had a job approval rating of 69% during his first days in office in 2009. Considering the chaos of the Trump administration, the screw ups they have pulled to date, and the fact that Donald John is incapable of getting any of his programs approved, it can only get worse.

These are Fox News polls and although I do have reservations about anything Fox says or does, I take some comfort in the fact that these numbers are being reported by The Hill, a highly reputable publication. They even mention that Trump's unfavorable ratings have been even worse, rising above 55% at times. Here's The Hill's take...

"The huge popularity of Sanders in the Fox poll tracks virtually all other polling that shows Sanders to be, by a large margin, the most popular political leader in America, and far ahead of Trump, the most unpopular new president in the history of presidential polling."

Bernie Sanders has been rallying against the GOP healthcare bill and the repeal of Obamacare since it was introduced by Paul Ryan and endorsed by Donald Trump. The Bern has his own healthcare plan that is even more universal than The Affordable Care Act, but agrees with The Hill that, "...TrumpCare's unpopularity creates a grave danger of disaster for Republicans in 2018 and 2020." And here are some results of Bernie's efforts...

"...a shocking new poll from Quinnipiac University found American voters opposing the pending Republican healthcare bill by a three to one margin. Fifty-six percent of voters disapprove of TrumpCare (or "RyanCare," or whatever name is attached to the disastrous GOP bill), while only 17 percent support it."

With Sanders popularity today, there is no doubt that he would beat Trump in an election, a point I have made several times recently in an effort to keep Progressives active, with an eye toward the day that Donald Trump implodes and brings the Republican Party down around him. The Hill agrees...

"The consistently high ratings for Sanders, and the consistently low ratings for Trump, show that the real majority in America is the genuinely progressive and genuinely populist view of Sanders, not the phony populism or warped conservatism represented by Trump."

 "If Sanders were running against Trump for president today, he would win by a gigantic popular vote margin and a strong electoral vote margin."

Even across the pond, Bernie Sanders' popularity shines above all other American politicians. Here's the tragic analysis of The Guardian from Great Britain...

"If you look at the numbers, Bernie Sanders is the most popular politician in America – and it’s not even close. Yet bizarrely, the Democratic party – out of power across the country and increasingly irrelevant – still refuses to embrace him and his message. It’s increasingly clear they do so at their own peril."

Here's a Party, the Dems I'm talking about, who should have learned their lesson in the DNC fiasco with Debbie Wasserman Schultz; the fact that she unethically ramrodded Cliinton to the Democratic nomination, when Bernie Sanders was clearly the choice of the public. But that wasn't even enough. Again, there was Keith Ellison who was a natural to lead charged up Progressives on the left, but the old guard of the Party felt more complacent with a hard-liner, Tom Perez. Here's another startling fact from The Guardian; with U.S. Independents, Sanders has an astonishing +41 net favorability.

Progressives are asking for more--they want the adoption of Sanders' populist policies in retaking governor's offices with good support in the defined areas--but Democrats have their own ideas. The proof in the pudding came in a recent town hall meeting hosted by MSNC's Chris Hayes, and it applied directly to Trump voters. In "Trump country" West Virginia...

...the crowd ended up giving him [Bernie Sanders] a rousing ovation after he talked about healthcare being a right of all people and that we are the only industrialized nation in the world who doesn’t provide healthcare as a right to all its people.

The Guardian chastises the Democratic Party for its past lack of attention to houses of Congress, governorships and state houses across the country [thanks to Debbie Wasserman Schultz], instead concentrating on just a White House loss by Hillary Clinton, blamed on James Comey and the Russian intervention in the election. The ostrich effect, they [the Dems] either have their head in the sand or...up their ass. I go for the latter. Politico reports eventual attention to a positive economic message by the Democrats but...

“For now, aides say, the focus is on slaying the giant and proving to the voters who sent Trump into the White House why his policies will fail.”

Same old, same old, which Clinton tried at the end of her campaign and failed miserably. Bernie's comment...

“There are some people in the Democratic Party who want to maintain the status quo. They would rather go down with the Titanic so long as they have first-class seats.”

Looks like the Dems plan to stay on the bottom of the first-class heap. 

Can Donald Trump outspeak Kim Jong Un?

Who's craziest, him or me?

When you put two lunatics together, the best one can expect is more lunacy. And that is exactly what we have gotten from Donald Trump since he started on his nefarious trek to the White House. Can't remember a day during and after the 2016 election that something stupid hasn't come from the mouths of Donald John, his handlers or his supporters. It was a perpetual cacophony of mindless jabbering that, in most cases, had no substance whatever. But those poor souls out there ate it up and pushed the man with a dunce cap on right into the Oval Office. It has been hell ever since.

Kim Jong Un, on the other hand, is a lunatic that is much more dangerous than a Donald Trump. At least Donald John has some relatively sane people around him, and then, of course, there are the Democrats, that can rein him in if he really gets dangerous. All of North Korea is scared shitless of Kim, and by the time anyone stepped in to stop the maniac, he could have sent deadly missiles all around the world. This is all prompted by a headline today in the Washington Post: "North Korea says it tested rocket engine ‘of historic significance.’"

That's it, those two words, "historic significance" that made me wonder which of our two village idiots could win the battle of superlatives. So I researched the transcendent comments of each man and this is what I came up with...

• DT: “I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.”
• KJU: "Want to know what’s more destructive than a nuclear bomb? Words."
• DT: “I’m really rich! I’ll show you that in a second. And by the way: I’m not even saying that in a brag.”
• KJU: "The days are gone forever when our enemies could blackmail us with nuclear bombs."
• DT: “I’m the most militaristic person ever.”
• KJU: "Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest."
• DT: “I will build a great wall . . . and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me.”
• KJU: "Past records of inter-Korean relations show that confrontation between fellow countrymen leads to nothing but war."
• DT: “I would use the greatest minds. I know the best negotiators. I’m in New York – I know the good ones, the bad ones. I always say: ‘I know the ones people think are good.’ I know people you’ve never heard of that are better than all of them.”
• KJU: The revolution is carried out by means of one's thought.

And I couldn't resist one more Donald Trump classic...

“If you really love this country you have a very, very hard time convincing people that what you’re doing is right and that you’re really smart. And, like, a lot of us are really smart. I’m really smart – I went to the Wharton School of Finance.”

Let's analyze what you've see above. First, the Donald Trump comments are ludicrous and asinine, something you might expect from some unhinged college senior running for class president. Second, Kim Jong Un, on the contrary, should scare the hell out of any American, especially with Donald John in the White House. If anyone could start World War III, it would be these two nutcases.  

Peace!

Thanks to the National Review and AZ Quotes for the quotations.

Is Obamacare invincible?

It looks like it so far. House Speaker and number one cheesehead, Paul Ryan got shot down again, with him and his group looking at the piece of shit they call a healthcare plan. They pulled it from consideration, rocky Ryan stated, or as the greatest of leaders said, “We just pulled it,” with emphasis on the "We." What this means is that The Affordable Care Act continues to reign supreme for now. It was Donald John's ultimatum on Thursday, either pass our bill on Friday or Obamacare stays. This is just another in a long line of failures for both Donald Trump and Paul Ryan. Time to dump em both!

With this defeat, it is uncertain now if T-rump will be able to push through his aggressive agenda of changing how the government works now to his way. This statement from a Republican who planned to vote for the new GOP healthcare plan is a real downer for the Party...

"Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), who planned to vote for the legislation, said that Friday would have been the 'first big vote in the presidency of Donald Trump. I think it’s a statement, not just about him and the administration, but about the Republican Party and where we’re headed.'”

Is Byrne admitting the Party has no idea where it's headed, or is he just another befuddled Republican? I vote for both, but as this all becomes more challenging for the GOP, yet more enticing for Democrats, the country goes to hell. The future will be interesting in illustrating the ability of the United States to withstand the likes of a Donald Trump, measuring its capacity to survive in this environment, and see just how long it will take to awaken a dull and apathetic public. America is a strong country but unconscious, uninformed voters have never put us in this position before.

Paul Ryan ontacted every skeptical voter and "Trump had personally lobbied 120 lawmakers, either in person or on the phone," but all for naught. It went down like the Hindenburg, and not because of Democratic opposition, but due to Republicans that think their Party's attempt at replacing The Affordable Care Act is inadequate. Even Vice President Pence, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price jumped into the foray, but the hard-line House Freedom Caucus thought changes made would “raise serious coverage and cost issues.”

If you look closely at the Washington Post article, and it is a good read, you'll see very little participation by Democrats. As a matter of fact, here's one of the few, “You never intended for there to be a health plan of consequence for this nation,” said Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.)." He added, “What we will have done is helped rich people. And we will not have helped poor people.” Bingo, and I don't think that is really surprising, just the anemic left trying their best to get on record with the facts. It was really Bloomberg that put it all into perspective after Trumpcare was dumped Friday...

"We should pause and realize what a big deal this is. The number one agenda item for years, the one that most House Republicans campaigned on when first elected, and they couldn't manage to even get an initial bill out of the House. Not only that, but it was clear this week that even though most of them were willing to vote for it, practically no one was enthusiastic about what they had produced. It also polled terribly, and conservative health care wonks hated the bill."

Trumpcare RIP.

Weekend wrap-up of T-rump STUPIDS

It doesn't take much to collect a full body of stupid acts on the part of the Trump administration, but in many cases they are too little for a full-coverage post so I decided to wrap a bunch into a neat bundle and present it to you today. Here they are.

7 of 10 Americans disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling the healthcare situation. The Quinnipiac poll also found that DT, the man, is viewed poorly. He even fares worse on a Fox poll than he does on CNN re. healthcare. Donald John, in taking over the GOP's new healthcare bill, has managed to alienate the Freedom Caucus and other conservatives as well, to the extent that a vote on Thursday, March 23, had to be reschedule for today. There simply weren't enough votes on Thursday. IS OBAMACARE INVINCIBLE?

Sean Spicer doesn't like the press and so far they are returning the favor. That is the worst possible position a President's White House Press Secretary could be in, but, then, it reflects the exact position of the President he works for. In this kind of situation the President loses, but more important, the American people lose. Trump ran his 2016 campaign like a war room, and he and his administration are doing the same with the U.S. government. Following a conglomeration of muddled references to Trump's sources on the wiretaps, Spicer ends by saying Obama was helped in the wiretapping by the GCHQ, initials for the British intelligence finding agency. WHEN CONTACTED, THE BRITS SAID NO FREAKING WAY.

Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos allow student loan companies to gouge students again due to a high rise of defaults. Rather than find the cause of the unpaid loans, Trump/DeVos decided to do away with Obama's Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, forbidding agencies from charging fees for up to 16 percent of the principal and accrued interest owed on the loans, if the borrower entered the government’s loan rehabilitation program within 60 days of default. But in one case in particular, a loan company had assessed an exorbitant amount for defaulting, after agreeing to work with the student on a reduced payment schedule. PROVING...YOU CAN'T TRUST BUSINESS.

Nepotism is alive and thriving in Donald Trump's White House. Okay, the latest is that Kellyanne Conway's husband will be given a job in the Justice Department. "If confirmed by the Senate, George Conway would lead an office that would handle legal challenges to major Trump administration initiatives, such as the controversial travel ban." It started out with Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump's husband who was made a senior adviser to the President. His first diplomatic venture ended in failure as Great Britain rebuffed his efforts to push back votes on Israeli settlements until after the inauguration, supposedly as a favor to Netanyahu. Then, big daddy's daughter, Ivanka, is set to join daddy's administration as an unspecified, but reportedly influential policy role, and with that comes an office in the West Wing and top secret security clearance. Just what we need, a gang of Trumps out there running around with secrets about this country with no idea whatsoever the importance of what they hold. IN THIS CASE, NEPOTISM SHOULD BE ILLEGAL.

Even the Germans laugh at America's White House buffoon. The Daily Beast reports, "Trump Meets the German Press, and They Laugh At Him," their headline, followed by, "The American President, meeting his German counterpart, keeps taking victory laps, ripping reporters and ignoring the substance of tough questions." You would think the world's top narcissist would back off when going to visit one of the best allies the U.S. has had for years. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel was reserved and it would appear that she might just have been willing to let Donald John hang himself. He did, even appearing "impatient and restless as he stood at the podium." He continued by mocking a German reporter and later put down the U.S. in a statement about this county's trade failures, particularly NAFTA. BETTER KEEP DT HOME CUTTING THE WHITE HOUSE LAWN.

And finally, this huge Trump billboard that was recently erected in Phoenix of a "...menacing Donald Trump... flanked by mushroom clouds and swastikas configured like dollar signs." It is the blog picture today and, surprisingly, the Trump good-ole-boys haven't gone after it. Yet. It's owner, Karen Fiorito, a California resident, says, "I think a lot of people are feeling this way and I'm just trying to express what I think is on a lot of people's minds these days," followed by, "Something that really concerned us was this idea of a dictatorship where things were going in a certain direction." And if you look very closely at Donald John, you'll see a Russian flag on his lapel. She did the same thing for George W. Bush in 2004. By the way, she says the Donald Trump billboard will stay there as long as he is in the White House. UMMM...MAYBE ENOUGH OF THESE AROUND THE COUNTRY?

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!