Let Them Eat Cake

Over the last few months, Republicans have to be thinking: Governing is really hard! It's much easier to toss rhetorical bombs into the Body Politic without worrying about social consequences. It's much more fun to create Boogeymen via well-financed political attack machines and then rail against them to your base. It's much more enjoyable, and profitable, voting to "Repeal and Replace" Obamacare over 50 times for nearly eight years without having any plan to replace it.

Much has been written about the pro's and con's of the ACA versus the current Congressional Health Care bill. So let's not get deep into the weeds. What is interesting is the process and the past claims.

Candidate Trump promised a whole new and much improved Health Care package for all suffering Americans. It would cover everyone and be More and Better and Cheaper, and it would be Beautiful. But then Reality stepped in it after Election Day; Trump noticed he didn't have a Health Care plan, and things became complicated.

Speaker Paul Ryan displayed his renowned policy skills back in 2010 when he offered up a whole entire 26 page alternative to Obamacare, complete with big fonts, double spacing, charts and lots of graphics. But, to be fair,  he also warned about the need to develop a real program to immediately replace OCare. Then he forgot about it.

Mitch McConnell and his fellow Congressional creatures have made a career out of criticizing Democrats and Barack Obama, calling them feckless (at best) and quasi-traitors (at near worst). He worked to prevent his party from participating with the original Obamacare construction, even though most of it originated from the plans put forth by former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R) and Governor Mitt Romney (R). His "Party of No" obstructed as effectively as they could. But can they govern? So far, so bad.

This is what happens when Republicans finds themselves in a Governing situation after having spent an entire generation calling the opposition devils and traitors. After years of listening to this demonizing rhetoric from politicians, Fox News and Hate Radio, their base instinctively believes every word of it. Therefore any talk of "negotiating" or "compromising" with the opposition is perceived as an act of political suicide: the outraged base will say, 'why are you compromising with The Devil you told us about?' This is when primary challengers to incumbents come out to play.

So... we know the Health Care bill in Congress would result in significant societal changes. The rate/number of American uninsured's would rise back sharply to near-record 2010 levels. Americans who fall too deeply into financial debt because of medical bills will represent a return to the bad old days when  fully HALF of the nation's bankruptcies resulted from medical bills. And Americans who die from treatable illnesses left untreated because of poor health care coverage will bump against the number of deaths from firearms each year (over 30,000).

But not to worry! "Nobody dies from lack of access to healthcare," says this very smart Republican member of Congress:

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/raul-labrador-town-hall-nobody-dies-access-to-healthcare-obamacare

And everyone who depends on Medicaid (and implicitly, any other form of subsidy), you can take heart that the President's own advisor, Kellyanne Conway, has your back:

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/25/kellyanne-conway-those-on-medicaid-who-will-lose-insurance-can-get-jobs.html

Yep, you can always get that good paying job that has full health benefits. These jobs are all out there, just waiting for those folk on Disability to get the gumption to leave the dole and make something of their lazy-ass selves. If they can't eat any bread, let them eat cake!

But wait, you say, if this bill is so bad, who is for it? Well, it's a select group. Although Anthem Insurance is for it and Blue Cross stops just short of endorsing it (insurers will make much more money!!), the Health Care providers - the groups that know what is happening here - are loudly calling "foul!" American Medical Association, American Hospital Association and the usual bunch of stridently progressive liberal organizations, ha ha, doctors are Lefties.  Oh, also the crotchety old folks at AARP and those amoralists, the U.S. Catholic Bishops. And the ever-popular More:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/26/politics/ama-opposes-senate-health-bill/index.html

Anyone who is not healthy or wealthy, this ice floe is for you...

In the end, if Trumpcare does pass as planned, the next 10 years will mark such a decline in the nation's general health that the pendulum will be swinging full force towards a Single Payer/Medicare  For All system. What will be truly regrettable is the needless suffering that will transpire in the meantime, all for a disingenuous campaign promise that is really a masquerade for a massive Tax Cut to the wealthy.

Does this all make you mad? Does it produce a confounded curse issuing from your lips? Does it leave you truly frustrated but not knowing what to do about any of it? May we suggest you click on the link below and register for The  Daily Action. Every day around 9 or 10am you will get a text acting as a prompt to action. There will be an Issue of the Day, and a phone number to call or email - your Congress Folk, usually, but sometimes your Governor or even your state legislators. It's all prepared for you so that your valuable time each day is not wasted. And you will feel GREAT because you've demonstrated that you give a damn... every day!

https://dailyaction.org

This is really easy and very effective!!

And now that we're thinking about how to improve our health, let's take a couple of minutes to listen to Martin Mull as he reminds us to "keep one eye out for highway danger, and the other out for fruit":

Such sublimely silly stuff.

Trump as Shakespearean Role Model

King Lear. Julius Caesar. Coriolanus. Richard III. The Bard found some lasting success with his portrayals of powerful men who are not nice people. Madness. Betrayal. Megalomania. Corruption. Hubris and the inevitable and fitting Downfall. Tis written in the stars. Thus has it ever been, thus shall it ever be.

So it is today as we strive to determine what the Fates plan for ourselves and our world. The larger-than-life character of Donald Trump has sprawled across our stage, performing a compelling and compulsory drama that would intrigue Bill Shakespeare and delight Samuel Beckett. There is an absurdity in his ascension to the throne, and the unyielding support among his base speaks to the human faults that animate our daily actions.

How could Bill S. not think of King Lear if he were to have witnessed last week's First Full Cabinet Meeting with the President? I suppose everyone was just happy to have finally found the light switch to the meeting room. Take a peek at the following for some high-level and revolting examples of sycophantic boot-licking. This is what a Loyalty Oath Cabinet looks like:

http://mashable.com/2017/06/12/trump-weird-cabinet-meeting/#80wKG1dCB8q7

“Think’st thou that duty shall have dread to speak when power to flattery bows? To plainness honor’s bound when majesty falls to folly.” So said Kent at the beginning of King Lear, a ruler who surrounds himself with Yes Men and Smoke Blowers. Lear ends up alone, naked and insane, howling on the barren heath while nature storms all around him. Not a good ending for one who enjoys hearing how great he is, like this guy:

(Who will be the first to stop clapping?)

Yes, Jong-un won't end up well, either. And it is interesting what El Presidente Trump has to say about this loathsome guy. Anyway, another figure that Bill S. highlighted was Julius Caesar. The theme of an Authoritarian who seems intent on overthrowing the democratic norms of the Roman Republic has particular resonance with us today. There was a major fracas last week when protesters interrupted a production of the play, which depicted Caesar as a Trump-a-like:

I guess the uproar from the Right has been from its assumption that the producers of the play are suggesting Trump be assassinated, like a modern day Orange Julius. I really don't recall any such outrage when an earlier but similar production of JC cast the despot as a Barack Obama look-alike. Regardless, any theatre fan will know that all those who conspired and killed Caesar ended up in a very bad way indeed. That was The Bard's point, after all. 

Coriolanus is another Roman-centric tragedy that involves the demise of a flawed Strong Man in a highly-charged political setting. The central character is no Donald Trump, but it can be argued that the common citizens of Rome are very much like today's Trumpenproletariats. As one writer has said about Coriolanus,  "Is it an accident that Trump adviser Steve Bannon co-wrote a Los Angeles-riot-inspired, rap musical version of Shakespeare's Coriolanus? In that story, Coriolanus becomes a political candidate, refuses to flatter popular taste, turns against his own citizenry while uniting with his country's enemies..."  Give this piece on Shakespeare and Trump a couple of minutes to read, it's quite good:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-ca-cm-0529-shakespeare-trump-20160518-snap-htmlstory.html

Oy vey. Then there is Trump as everyone's favorite villain, Richard III. "...the character is a satanic joker who systematically wipes out all obstacles to ultimate power, puts on a false face to deceive the populace and is ultimately confronted by his own hollowness. As he says on the eve of battle: “There is no creature loves me; and if I die, no soul shall pity me.” For more on this, take a quick peek at the Guardian's piece.

"A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"

Of course there aren't any full overlaps of Shakespeare's characters with our current Chief Executive. How could a playwright from 500 years ago anticipate a Sui Generis such as DT? Perhaps it will end like Bill S. envisioned in The Tempest, where a deposed ruler and his daughter live in exile upon a deserted isle... 

Or it could end in the full madness of Caligula, the Roman emperor who many believed was Loonus Maximus. It was Caligula who ordered a Roman Legion to attack the English Channel, thrashing and splashing their swords at waves and pelting the water with seashells. It was also Caligula who made his horse into a Roman Senator, presumably with full pension and health benefits.

Which brings us to this fine joke from the comic John Mulvaney about a recent trip to Japan where he had to explain Donald Trump: 

 “To me it’s like there’s a horse loose in a hospital. Like, I think everything’s gonna be okay, but I have no idea what’s gonna happen next, and none of you know either. We’ve all never not known together,” he says. “It’s confusing, because every day we just have to follow the horse. And some days it’s like ‘The horse used the elevator!’ You know, there’s days where you’re like ‘Is the horse smart?’ And then we’re all just like ‘Why hasn’t the horse catcher caught the horse?’ and then the horse is like ‘I have fired the horse catcher.’ That shouldn’t be a thing.

Yes, that shouldn't be a thing. Oh, what would William Shakespeare say?

Is it too soon to ask: Is the gun OK?

It's been a year and a week since the Pulse Nightclub shootings. Many unimaginable events have transpired since then, but one thing remains a constant in our lives: American Gun Violence. It happens every day to over 300 Americans. Of these daily shootings, 92 victims will die.

Of course, not everybody who is shot is a crime target. Of the 33,599 US gun deaths in 2016, there were 21,334 suicides and 1,320 accidents. But that leaves 10,945 homicides, or 30 per day. The American Journal of Medicine took a look at how these statistics compare against the 22 other highest-income nations and it ain't too pretty at all:

http://amjmed.org/violent-death-rates-us-vs-22-other-countries/

According to the article, Americans are:

• Seven times more likely to be violently killed
• Twenty-five times more likely to be violently killed with a gun
• Six times more likely to be accidentally killed with a gun
• Eight times more likely to commit suicide using a gun
• Ten times more likely to die from a firearm death overall

“Overall, our results show that the U.S., which has the most firearms per capita in the world, suffers disproportionately from firearms compared with other high-income countries,” noted Dr. Grinshteyn. “These results are consistent with the hypothesis that our firearms are killing us rather than protecting us.”

Another way to look at the US versus The World gun violence stats is supplied by the NY Times. There is a really nifty table chart that supplies the firearm death rate in a particular country and compares the US rate of death likelihood. For example, the likelihood of being killed by a gun in Ireland is as likely as being drowned in a lake, river or ocean in the US.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/upshot/compare-these-gun-death-rates-the-us-is-in-a-different-world.html

You'll note, too, that the US compares favorably to some countries. But these are Basket-Case Nations like El Salvador. Other countries, like Syria or Iraq or Afghanistan aren't included, for obvious reasons. But just for the fun of it, let's take a look at how The Atlantic compared our cities' gun homicide rates with hot spots around the globe. For example, Chicago measures up with Guyana's firearm death rate:

Hmm. Living in Austin or Cambodia looks good. The Big Easy looks like The Big Shootout and please cancel your plans to retire in Honduras. This is quite a range of violence, from sea to shining sea. Concentrated homicide centers abound, but let's face it, some places are avoiding our American Carnage. Maybe we should take a look at who owns guns in our country:

Huh. I suppose it's not surprising that if one owns a gun, one is more likely to oppose gun control laws. The good news is that most gun owners support more background checks for private and gun show sales. The bad news is, well, most everything else.

Would more guns have helped at the Republican softball practice? There were already Capitol Police there. More gunfire from frenzied participants might have taken out the shooter quicker, but who knows where any wild shots would land. It's a miracle nobody in that urban neighborhood was affected. But if no police were there, it would have been a massacre. Would more guns have helped in London? Nope. Bystander guns may have brought down those three terrorists sooner... but if guns were available like they are here, the terrorists wouldn't have had to use a van and knives.

The Atlantic's David Frum has weighed in on this matter. Here is his essay in full:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/when-prayer-alone-does-not-suffice/530289/

This is the money quote:

Like ancient villagers, Americans accept periodic plagues as a visitation from the gods, about which nothing can or should be done. The only permitted response is “thoughts and prayers”—certainly never rational action to reduce casualties in future. Even to open the discussion as to whether something might not be done violates the taboos of decency: How dare you politicize this completely unpredictable and uncontrollable event! It is as if gun violence were inscrutable to the mind of man, utterly beyond human control.

When a society refuses to address the need to control high-volume ammo weapons, there is a much higher likelihood that events like today's will happen, but much more deadly. Here is a frightening recent event that could have easily turned into a real bloodbath. A couple of hundred heavily-armed  "patriots" showed up in the mistaken belief that a statue of Sam Houston was going to be removed:

http://www.chron.com/houston/article/Armed-protesters-at-Hermann-Park-protest-statue-11210583.php#photo-13062599

They were within their rights to display their ordinance. But why? What if someone tossed a string of firecrackers? These folk were on edge, and their guns were powerful. Why is it that such a Cult of Personality revolves around such weaponry?

Perhaps we should look to the wisdom found in The Onion, America's Finest News Source. Following last year's Pulse shootings, The Onion accepted an article from an AR-15 which expressed its gratitude for Americans placing it above the rights of human beings:

http://www.theonion.com/blogpost/its-honor-continue-being-valued-over-countless-hum-53094

Jonathan Swift can't hold a candle to that one. That's some supreme satire! But honest to God, what will it take to enact some sort of gun control change? Nothing, that's what. If having 20 Sandy Hook first-graders blown to bits under an unrelenting close range barrage of high-powered semi-automatic rifle fire won't dent our nation's gun laws, then nothing will - not even Republican lawmakers being shot.

It's just the way it is. "Violence is as American as apple pie," said H. Rap Brown. "Happiness is a warm gun," sang John Lennon. The gun eradicated "the natives" from this land, making for Manifest Destiny. The gun kept a race subjugated in slavery. The gun has spread like a virulent cancer through our country. It is intractably entwined deep into our nation's character. It is no longer a tool. The gun is now the symbol of all our fear and doubt - about ourselves and The Other.

If only John Lennon or Yoko Ono had a gun...

"Ubi Est Mea?" to replace "E Pluribus Unum"

Many years ago, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Mike Royko had some fun with the City of Chicago's official motto, "Urbs in Horto" which translates to "City In A Garden". He suggested that a more accurate and useful motto should be "Ubi Est Mea?" which translates to "Where's Mine?" He wrote, "It is the watchword of the new Chicago, the cry of the money brigade, the chant of the City of the Big Wallet." He also suggested the city's flag depict an outstretched palm-up hand.

The brazen culture of corruption that characterized the Daley days in Chicago (and still does) has found its equivalent at the Federal level here in DC. The effort to 'Drain The Swamp' has evolved to make it the biggest and very, very best swamp, terrific, really. It is readily apparent that President Trump and his family's business continue to benefit financially from his Presidency.

Our Executive Branch has been accused of letting the foxes guard the henhouses. Is it a kleptocracy? Are we becoming a banana republic? Is this administration following the example of Napoleon's foreign minister, Talleyrand, who set out to make "an immense fortune" from the Empire, and did?

To help us better understand the nuances and blunt truth of what constitutes a kleptocracy, let's turn to the remarkable badass, Sarah Chayes (a reporter who was embedded in early-conflict-Afghanistan and chose to stay on, by herself,  for years, to help villagers there) on how countries become kleptocracies:

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-05-22/trump-and-the-path-toward-kleptocracy

OK. Now we've heard over and over about how Donald Trump is second to none when it comes to being a philanthropist. He gives millions to the needy and afflicted. He's told us so!! If you're looking for a reason, any reason, why the white working class went for him as a champion of The Little Guy, this might be it. I can't find any track record of Donald Trump helping The Little Guy in any other way, beyond his self-promotional philanthropic rhetoric.

Oh, but what's this? There seems to be some dispute about how much Donald Trump actually gave to any particular charity. Here is a wonderful display that portrays the work of Pulitzer winner David Fahrenthold. It should put to rest any notion that this man has given away any amount of his own money:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/trump-charity-donations/

Wow, what a schmuck!

Yes, it appears our President has not been truthful about this subject. Oh, the vapors! But wait! There's so much more!  Just the other day, news broke about how The President had directed his son to siphon charity money - heading to help kids with cancer - to his Trump Organization. Here's a link to that blockbuster story (not from the original Forbes website source, which keeps crashing):

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/06/trump-organization-charged-eric-trumps-cancer-charity-golf-events.html

$1.2 million paid to the Trump Organization piggybank instead of helping the kids at the Eric Trump Foundation. $100,000 diverted to the Donald Trump Foundation for who knows what. And this kicker:

"while donors to the Eric Trump Foundation were told their money was going to help sick kids, more than $500,000 was re-donated to other charities, many of which were connected to Trump family members or interests, including at least four groups that subsequently paid to hold golf tournaments at Trump courses."

Again, it was David Fahrenthold who asked Eric about this last year. Claims of Mucho Dinero being donated by Daddy Trump turned up $0. The distinction is that the DJT Foundation will sometimes make a donation to a charity,  but not DJT himself. He does NOT give his own foundation ANY money, certainly not since 2008.  It comes from his friends and sycophants.

And, unlike other Presidents, Trump has no Blind Trust in place. This creates innumerable conflicts of interest. Trump and his family benefit from his position and their business. Mar-a-Lago membership fees. Trump Hotels filled with friendly business and international groups competing for available revenue generating space. Donald Jr and Eric flying around the world with beefed-up secret service protection, all staying at Trump properties. Ivanka's China sweatshops. The Kushner family selling US visa applications to Chinese at $500K a pop.  But this is all kids-stuff.

For an incredible and kinda mind-boggling look at all the revenue-generating conflicts of interest Trump now commands, check out this recent Atlantic article. It starts with the Saudis and ends with the Phillipines' Duterte, with seemingly the entire world in-between. This deserves much attention and praise.

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/06/donald-trump-conflicts-of-interests/508382/

If you finished reading that and feel like this, it's completely understandable:

Finally, it's back to one of my heroes here, David Fahrenthold, for his comprehensive look at Donald Trump's track record of charitable donations:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-boasts-of-his-philanthropy-but-his-giving-falls-short-of-his-words/2016/10/29/b3c03106-9ac7-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html?utm_term=.6061824334d0

In it, he describes an event that Trump crashed in 1996. He takes a seat away from a hard-working donor, Steve Fisher, just as the ceremony begins. Everyone on the podium is astonished at this Brass Balls Quest For Unwarranted Publicity:

Afterward, Disney and Buchenholz recalled, Trump left without offering an explanation. Or a donation. Fisher was stuck in the audience. The charity spent months trying to repair its relationship with him.

“I mean, what’s wrong with you, man?” Disney recalled thinking of Trump, when it was over.

Just another day in the life of our future Grifter-in-Chief. Got his name and face on the news, helping poor AIDS kids - not. What a great guy. And in closing, here are some words regarding our Republican party as they continue to cover for this colossal crud:

"The River of Blood" and where will it flow?

More than 700,000 soldiers gave their lives during the Civil War. And along a tree-cleared stretch of Potomac riverfront, on the 14th hole of Trump National Golf Course in Sterling, Virginia, this plaque bears testimony to the grim, deadly occurrence there - that never happened.

Nope. None of that battle stuff transpired there. While utterly lacking in Civil War history fact-dom, it does bear further evidence that Mr. Trump has always had a colorful, adversarial relationship with Truth.  He may as well have put up a plaque entitled "The River of Bullshit" and it would be an accurate metaphor for his leadership style.

When confronted about the plaque's absence of reality, then-Private Citizen Trump invoked what we at the Daily Kibitz have identified as The Trump Truth Axiom: Whenever Trump speaks, he believes what he says is true... or it should be true.

“That was a prime site for river crossings,” Mr. Trump said. “So, if people are crossing the river, and you happen to be in a civil war, I would say that people were shot — a lot of them.” But no one died in that crossing, historians said, or in any other notable Civil War engagement on the spot. “How would they know that?” Mr. Trump asked when told that local historians had called his plaque a fiction. “Were they there?” 

Ah, now that's our President! When backed into a Truth Corner, he lashes out in the manner of a schoolyard bully. "Were they there?" He was probably thinking, "You think you know everything? How come you're not rich like me? Your mama is fat and your so-called dad is a great big loser..."

Facts that are not spoken by him are Fake. It's why he declares that news reporters simply fabricate entire stories about him and his administration. Their facts didn't come directly from him, therefore, they are false. It plays into the whole "How To Build An Autocracy" playbook (and by the way, please read that linked article from The Atlantic. If you're not already spooked by what's happening, you will be after finishing it and seeing what's happening today). Here's another view of the same notion by the author of "On Tyranny":

Interestingly, on The River of Blood plaque, there is a Trump family emblem. It has quite a history, one that also speaks deeply regarding the character of Our President. Too bad, Davies family, it's mine now. Don't like it? Sue me.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/28/business/trump-coat-of-arms.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

Trump removed "Integrity" from the Davies emblem and added his own name.

Adding to the surreal nature of our Trumped Up Existence, there is the North Korean-quality of sychophantry that's being displayed at the White House. Things are not only great, they are the best ever!

“It truly was an extraordinary week for America and our people,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday afternoon as he kicked off a gushing recap to reporters that lasted roughly nine minutes and featured the word “historic” a half-dozen times.

Spicer channeled his boss as he declared that Trump’s speech to leaders of more than 50 Arab and Muslim nations “was a historic turning point that people will be talking about for years to come” and “was met with nearly universal praise.” He claimed that the president single-handedly “united the civilized world in the fight against terrorism and extremism” and that his meetings at the Group of Seven summit in Sicily “were marked by outstanding success.”

And this:

“We’ve never seen before at this point in a presidency such sweeping reassurance of American interests and the inauguration of a foreign policy strategy designed to bring back the world from growing dangers and perpetual disasters brought on by years of failed leadership,” Spicer said.


And this, from WH aide Hope Hicks:

President Trump has a magnetic personality and exudes positive energy, which is infectious to those around him. He has an unparalleled ability to communicate with people. . . . He is brilliant with a great sense of humor.

Huh. This type of "Dear Leader" rhetoric is usually found in the work of propagandists polishing some dictator's apple. Between this and the "River of Bullshit" that now forcefully flows through the rapids of our lives like an enormous firehose that can't be turned off, things can become somewhat dispiriting.

The KGB had much success by following this basic approach in managing its citizens: Continually confuse and overwhelm them with disinformation to the point where any resistance becomes too distracted and fatigued.  Our Executive and Legislative Branches are following this Kremlin propaganda playbook.

Ugh. Well, on the other hand, it's the weekend! So let's kick it off by having a good laugh. Check out the Angry Trump Pedestrian:

A Walking Metaphor

Oh, ho ho. And now, to celebrate the first weekend of summer, let's expand our minds a bit and groove out to this Pop-Soul chestnut, "Tighter, Tighter" by Alive and Kicking,  from 1970. Even if you don't recognize it, you'll like it. You might even like the goofy psychedelic images that accompany the video: