At the beginning of the Jan6 Hearings, GOP Minority Leaders Kevin McCarthy and Moscow Mitch McConnell stated that they hadn’t bothered to listen to or watch the testimony of the four policemen who appeared before the investigating Committee. These were only four of the many that had risked their lives to protect these two degenerate assholes that didn’t even have the intelligence to keep their viewing options to themselves. What a waste!
******
The intransience of those that refuse to get their COVID shots has led to resurgence in viral infections and conflicting and confusing messages from the CDC. The one that really grinds my ass is the one where they try to tell us that even those who have had their shots should now wear masks to protect those who haven’t.
Wait a minute! I’m very old and I have a lot of trouble breathing, which is exacerbated by wearing a mask. So I should still wear a mask to protect some fool who thinks I’m a jerk for getting the shots? I think not.
It’s extremely clear that those who are not vaccinated stand a much greater chance of getting sick and dying. This is fact, not debatable. There is also no argument; a person who puts their life and those of their family in danger for no apparent reason is a moron. That’s why there is a large contingent of disgusted citizens who believe we should just allow these fools to do what they want and if they get sick and die that’s on them. The country already has too many morons. Besides, such a strategy would balance the voting rolls.
What I find fascinating is that the far Right while they are conducting a purge to prevent minorities from voting are, at the same time, encouraging their own voters to engage in behavior that will eventually lead to a significant number of them dying and thereby removing them from the voter rolls. I’m not sure if that’s ironic or just plain stupid. *****
Neel Kashkari President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis was on Face the Nation and gave a very clear and succinct interpretation of what is currently happening with inflation and why we should forge ahead without fear that it will cause long-term problems.
Inflation is the GOP bogyman that arises whenever the Republicans don’t want to spend money on the poor or middle class.
Inflation causes the ultra rich to pay higher interest on the money they borrow to buy that third yacht. They seem to have realized this also applies to business investment, which is why they stopped starting new businesses that could employ more people, so now they just invest in the market. The Fed can control inflation pretty easily, which is why inflation hasn’t for years, had much effect on financial policy.
*****
Watched the original political bimbo, Laura Ingraham, try to be clever by giving out acting awards to the four hero cops who testified at the Jan6 hearings. Those guys were fighting to save the Capitol from a fascist mob while she was back at the White House kissing Trump’s fat butt. Then Tucker Carlson took his turn laughing at these heroes for doing something he would never have the guts to even think of doing
*****
The GOP has been losing elections since Trump took over but they continue to support him because he continues to be able to raise money from both the base and a scabrous coterie of millionaires that care nothing for anything but enriching their fat white asses. Just this month it was reported that Trump had raised over eighty million for his campaign fund. The question is what’s he going to do with it? He hasn’t given a nickel to any of the candidates he supports and they could have used it in local elections. He has evidenced nothing that even resembles a campaign platform but that’s to have been expected considering he didn’t have one when there was an actual election to win. So what is all this money for? The smart bet is that it’s to pay defense attorneys to keep him out of jail.
But who is shelling out this kind of dough to a guy who will probably never run for office again and why are they doing it?
Well, his base has been doing their share with the small donations. They are dumb, easily conned and nuts enough to shell out money they cant afford even when they know they will never get anything back. But that doesn’t come close to explaining the big bucks he is dragging in. The real money is coming from a coterie of very rich, white supremacist millionaires who have formed a series of foundations and trusts whose aim is the continuity of their financial success and social dominance through the bolstering of their ever expanding financial fortunes, which is accomplished by buying local, state and federal elected officials in large multiples.
Back when I first started paying attention to politics there was an outfit called the Heritage Foundation that despite being ultra-conservative, managed to maintain at least a facade of fairness and truthfulness and could be depended on as a reliable information funnel to all who made use of their services. Now the Heritage Foundation is simply a fascist propaganda source that plans money raising rallies and puts out lists of truth denying individuals that the Far Right should consider for judgeships and other appointed jobs that will help the GOP.
But the whole Republican Party is now that way. There is never any consideration about whether an individual being considered for a position is competent or functional, only whether he or she is willing to lie and sell their soul for the Party.
Suppose Nixon had been forgiven by the GOP or even led back into office the way the GOP attempted to do with Trump? We would now, fifty years later, no longer be the leader of the free world. We would be a sorry dictatorship with Dick Cheney and Mitch McConnell battling Steve Bannon ands Rand Paul to see who could stash more stolen money in the Bahamas.
*****
So the Democrats have the bi-partisan infrastructure bill moving ahead nicely through congress. This is only because they have convinced about 20 Republicans in the Senate that it will be good for their careers. After that the Dems have the big $3.5 trillion bill looming. This will never be bi-partisan so they will need all the Dems on board. If they let the progressives get out of control and allow them to keep making noise about one bill being tied to the other they will fuck it up.
The fact is they don’t need the Republicans to pass the bigger bill if they can act like grownups and keep their own people in line. They must make AOC and her bunch of noisy nuts toe the line until the infrastructure bill is passed, just as they have to keep Manchin and Sinema in line when it comes time to have all 50 Senate votes ready to go on the bigger bill.
Getting both done is a real possibility and would be wonderful for the country and the Party. It would give great stature to Biden and show the voters that the Democrats can deliver for the people. Then, of course, the Dems will have to actually show that they can make the bills work and that the money will be well spent. This is not an easy task considering the history of the ways our governments have wasted money in the past, but if they do it right it will get the nation back functioning and set us on a course to the kind of recovery we experienced after WWII.