Trumpland Day 60: And the Beat Goes On

How much of a disaster is the Turdpol Kakistocracy? The Senate Judiciary Committee begins its hearings for Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch today. This is a nomination that was stolen from President Obama by obstructionist Senate Republicans, led by Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell. The refusal by Senate Republicans last year to give Obama’s pick for Justice Antonin Scalia’s vacated seat, Merrick Garland, so much as a hearing, much less a vote, stands as one of the most frightening actions the GOP has taken to undermine American democracy since the party went extremist. Yet, it feels like battling over the Gorsuch nomination is near the bottom of the list of priorities for the Democrats in opposition. Normally that would be because the Democrats loathe confrontation. But President Trump has turned that all upside down. This is where we are. A Supreme Court pick was stolen from a sitting president, and that is less of a crisis for the republic than all the other stories dominating political news. Continue readingTrumpland Day 60: And the Beat Goes On”

Cocksuckers Ball: My Experience With Obamacare

The GOP released its long-awaited Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) replacement, and the general consensus is that the new bill stinks. It has been met with such a lack of enthusiasm from the right that there is a very real possibility that the American Health Care Act (AHCA), as it has been named, is dead on arrival. The Democrats will never support this bill, and a large portion of the Republicans in Congress will not do so either, as the bill is currently written. Continue readingCocksuckers Ball: My Experience With Obamacare”

Cocksuckers Ball: Crottes D’Éléphants

The House of Representatives voted today, largely along party lines, to repeal the healthcare law passed last year. It was a symbolic gesture, as the Democratic-controlled Senate will not take up the bill, nor would President Obama sign it. The vote today was the culmination of two years of rhetoric and campaign promises, and with any luck, that is as far as things will go. But the GOP does have a strategy beyond meaningless parliamentary showboating. They do genuinely want this bill to disappear, and while repeal is out of the question with the current alignment in Washington, starving the bill to death by denying it funds is not. Continue readingCocksuckers Ball: Crottes D’Éléphants”

Cocksuckers Ball: The Assassin of the Senate

“If you compared it to the alternative, it looks good. If you compare it to the possibilities, it looks sad.” So said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island upon emerging from a closed-door meeting of Democratic Senate leadership on Monday evening, as it became clear that even the compromise plan of allowing Medicare buy-ins by persons aged 55-64 (the replacement for the public option) would not be enough to get healthcare reform to 60 votes. Continue readingCocksuckers Ball: The Assassin of the Senate”