Sorry But There is Just No Way to Improve on This Insight
Tag: Republicans
Don’t Vote for the Job-Killing Moron
“Governor Ron DeSantis is a job killing moron who cares more about his own political ambitions and culture wars than Florida and our future. According to him, ‘woke makes you go broke’ but this is another example of how it’s actually the complete opposite. DeSantis is not who you want for President — ever.”
— Fla. Rep. Anna Eskamani (D – Dist. 42) reacting to the news that Disney will pull a $17 billion project out of her district. The decision was announced amid ongoing attacks from Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis after Disney objected to the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which punishes any acknowledgement of nonheterosexual orientation in public schools.
Three Travel Advisories are in Effect for Florida Because of Its War on “Woke” The Legislature Continues to Focus on Issues Gov. DeSantis Can Boast About on the Campaign Trail
A third travel advisory has been issued for Florida. Equality Florida, the state’s largest organization devoted to fighting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender idenity, is warning not to visit or relocate to Florida. The group joins The Florida Immigrant Coalition and state chapters of the NAACP in the same message:
The move comes in response to…the passage of laws that are hostile to the LGBTQ community, restrict access to reproductive health care, repeal gun safety laws, foment racial prejudice, and attack public education by banning books and censoring curriculum.
Florida’s legislature continues to churn out culture war laws devised by Gov. Ron DeSantis. One source from within the body even told a Politico Florida reporter that the governor’s office must sign off on any changes to bills as they work through the legislature.
Florida’s elected Republicans find themselves ignoring serious problems like a crisis in homeowners insurance that is causing Florida residents to sell their homes. They have also produced no bills dealing with climate change even as the Fort Lauderdale airport had to be shut down from torrential rain and flooding. Instead, they focus on issues that Ron DeSantis wants to be able to boast about in his primary challenge to disgraced former Pres. Trump.
Move over George Santos. Meet Rep. Andy Ogle (R-TN), Another Freshman Liar in the GOP House
News Channel 5 Nashville: “If you believe Middle Tennessee’s newest congressman, he’s not only a businessman, he’s also an economist, a nationally recognized expert in tax policy and health care, a trained police officer, even an expert in international sex crimes.
“But an exclusive NewsChannel 5 investigation discovered that Andy Ogles’ personal life story is filled with exaggerations, a story that’s often too good to be true.”
Read the full report.
It’s Not Your Imagination — All the News is About Republicans
If you’ve been feeling like all you hear about night and day — not just on the Sunday shows but ALL THE TIME — is Republicans…well, you’re not wrong.
Even if it’s to point out the problems springing forth from the GOP/Trump side of the world, the mainstream media can’t tear its focus from what Republicans say, do, think, eat, drink, etc., ad nauseam.
That Biden and Harris are of the no-drama Obama tradition is no excuse. There are other stories to cover beyond what Trump and his followers will or will not do in the next election (or even the August “reinstatement”). The press hanging on Trump’s every word and deed is part of what got him as our president for four years. And we all know how that worked out.
Let’s say we’ve learned something since 2016 and not keep repeating the mistakes that we’re still trying to repair.
Hilarious Twitter Posts on Trump’s Presser at the Other Four Seasons
As if you weren’t feeling great enough this morning following the incredible event last night featuring our new president-elect and the country’s first female vice president-elect. Maybe we’re still giddy but the posts on Twitter following Trump’s announcement of a big press conference at the Four Seasons — no, not THAT Four Seasons…well anyway, see for yourself.
Trump Got the Debate He Wanted, But Will it Help Him?
I’m not a pollster. My observations are just that: the most elemental of research, what I see and hear around me.
The day of the debate, I heard Trump supporters talking about recording the show like it was a ball game their team was likely to win. I heard laughter about Biden. On a neighborhood walk, I saw mostly Trump/Pence signs. They appeared early and continued to outnumber Biden signs.
The day after the debate, I heard no chortling about how well Trump did. In fact no one mentioned the debate at all, the subject just too painful. When I came home, it seemed that my neighbors’ yards filled with Biden signs overnight. No matter where my eyes fell, there was a Biden/Harris sign in view.
The official polls reflecting post-debate sentiment won’t be out for awhile. But I’m cautiously optimistic they’ll back up what I’m seeing and show that Trump is sliding just a bit, losing support every time he opens that tight, pursed mouth to let all that anger out.
Watching Trump live-tweet Biden in person was hard. But it might be what it takes to turn enough Americans away from his nightmare presidency.
Trump in 2016: Us Against Them. Trump in 2020: Us Against Us.
It took almost four years but here we are.
Trump used to rally his base with innuendo about shadowy others who threatened America: Mexicans are rapists and members of obscure, violent gangs. A Muslim travel ban would keep out terrorists. Orphaning the children of parents fleeing Central America by locking them away and concealing them from their families would ensure that only Americans would receive benefits from paying taxes.
Where we are now was a gradual and incremental shift but it’s easy enough to look back and see it coming. After all, Trump made his mark on the political scene by questioning Pres. Obama’s legitimacy and refusing to acknowledge that Obama was born in Hawaii, not Kenya.
We know the cascading inflection points ever since. Good people on both sides. Pardoning Sheriff Joe Arpaio before he could be sentenced for what the U.S. Dept. of Justice called “sadistic punishments” of Latino inmates. Trying to shut down the NFL because Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem in response to police killings of Black people. Calling Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas. Labeling a free press the enemy of the people. Saying the members of “The Squad,” four Democratic congresswomen, should go back to their countries although all but one were born in America. Calling Jews who vote for Democrats “disloyal.” Retweeting white supremacists. The list is endless and neither of us has that much time.
Now, as Poltico’s Michael Kruse, Renuka Rayasam, and Myah Ward note, Trump is no longer talking about us versus them. He’s ginning up the base by making it us against us. […]
So This is What Living In a Failed State is Like
I know most of you realize, I don’t need to tell you, that obviously we are living in a failed state.
And that our government’s reaction to this was too late, and that it was not enough. and a lot of what the federal government is supposed to do they’re not doing.
Because over the last few years — but certainly over the last 20 — whenever possible, Republicans tried to dismantle the government, everything they see as non-essential. And some of that being what was needed to respond to this properly.
So this is the goal: the failed state. This is the Republican vision. Let private enterprise take care of it. Great. So now we have people who need ventilators and masks and there’s a bidding war going on over who is going to make a profit on those items and which states they’re going to sell to. It’s all working out.
— Marc Maron, speaking on his WTF podcast about the COVID-19 pandemic, the death of Adam Schlesinger from the disease, the consequences and reality of running government like a business, and the catastrophe that is the Trump administration.
Contrasts with South Korea Show How Badly Trump Team Failed at Early COVID-19 Efforts
There are facts that won’t change as the COVID-19 virus spreads, and the bungling of the crisis by the Trump Administration is etched in stone.
A story by Reuters contrasts the South Korean response with that of the United States. It ain’t pretty for the U.S. Both countries discovered their first cases on the same day but South Korea acted decisively, pioneered drive-through testing, and slowed the spread of the disease.
South Korea’s swift action stands in stark contrast to what has transpired in the United States…the Koreans have tested well over 290,000 people and identified over 8,000 infections. New cases are falling off: Ninety-three were reported Wednesday, down from a daily peak of 909 two weeks earlier.
The United States, whose first case was detected the same day as South Korea’s, is not even close to meeting demand for testing. About 60,000 tests have been run by public and private labs in a country of 330 million, federal officials said Tuesday.
As a result, U.S. officials don’t fully grasp how many Americans have been infected and where they are concentrated – crucial to containment efforts.
