Having a good time with my Spanish relatives who will be leaving for home in a couple of days. We have done a lot of sightseeing. They also have taken over our kitchen and, frankly, produced some genuinely superb meals. I always am amazed and in awe of people who can walk into a kitchen, open a few cabinet doors, check the pantry and the refrigerator and--Presto!--whip up an awesome lunch or dinner. These folks can certainly do that! Amazing! I am sorry they will be going.
I have tuned into the news only off-and-on for the past couple of weeks.
I can tell from my more in-depth session today, that I haven't missed much of great interest.
The silly Russia election hack/campaign collusion story sputters along, with no more evidence of any wrong-doing now than several months ago. CNN continues to prove itself, perhaps, the most deranged "news" outlet in the Western world. Not just its broadcasts, but the tweets and other comments of its key personnel show that there is some serious mental issues afoot in the Atlanta HQS and throughout CNN's tattered empire. The level of ignorance of history, the world, and everything else is truly astounding. Most other "news" outlets are not far behind.
"Fact checking" seems to be a lost art.
I see that the GOP hopelessly complicated and destroyed its effort to "repeal and replace" the disastrous Obamacare. The mess is "inexplicable" unless one just concludes that once in Washington it is irrelevant whether the politician is Dem or Rep, he or she becomes of Washington, with the mentality of Washington.
I think the effort to dump Obamacare should have been a two-stage process: 1) repeal the damn thing; and, 2) remove all laws and regulations that hamper the operation of a free market in the health insurance business. In other words, Congress should repeal Obamacare, and we, ordinary Americans, will take charge of replacing it with what we want.
Maybe there is still hope that this will happen? I don't know, just as I am also having serious doubts that they will ever get around to reforming our tax rates and stifling government regulations to allow something akin to a genuine free market in goods and services.
The media is also abuzz with new polls. One dubious poll showing that Trump's support is on the wane, and other showing that the population of most foreign countries is opposed (?) to a wall on the US-Mexico border. What? Should we have a poll to see if Americans are opposed to the wall between the ocean and parts of Holland? Should people in France ask us whether we want to see a bullet-proof glass barrier put around the Eiffel Tower? Who cares?
All very boring and inconsequential.
I will struggle to get more interested.
Bored ? Well, what about the birth of Malorossiya ? Under the radar of the bickering, irrelevant MSM ,the rebels just declared the new independent republic of Malorossiya ( Little Russia ) in eastern Ukraine. The said they will have a referendum there soon. If Putin is involved in this ( and I guess he is ) he learned it from the West when they "solved" the Yugoslavian problem by dissolving and reconstructing the country. It might work, but will US/EU still be interested in the leftovers including Kiev ? The Ukraine has very fertile land and a big agricultural sector, formerly the "breadbasket of the Sovjet", should not be impossible to split that. Well, Putin will be pleased, Russia will be the ruler of the Black Sea again.
ReplyDeletehttp://news.antiwar.com/2017/07/18/east-ukraine-rebels-announce-referendum-for-a-new-state/
Swedihlady
We send a majority of Republicans to DC to complete the take over of elected government, and what do they do? They prove once again the Republican habit of refusing to do what is required-govern. It is not what comes naturally to us. We can send a majority of Democrats to DC and they won't govern. They will do what comes naturally to them-rule.
ReplyDeleteThis is what Trump ran against, DC dysfunction and uni- party collusion and corruption. Obamacare repeal and reform? I doubt it. Tax reform and overhaul? Same thing. As long as Washington can keep us rustics doped up with entitlements and subsidies, they will continue as always. The natural drift leftward will continue, even with Rs at the wheel. They will stand on the ground already taken and abandoned by the liberals and proclaim they are standing on "principle". Conservative? Well yes, they are conserving accomplishments of the Left while the same Left has moved on to other matters. We blame our moderates for siding with Dems but it is their voters who send them to DC to do so. You can always count on moderates to shoot the wounded after a battle and they will try to do so with the upcoming "repeal" vote. WE Rs make a much better opposition party because we don't own Washington and we don't own the culture of America. Democrats own it. That is how they stay in power after they should have gone the way of the Whigs years ago.
I share your boredom.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans do not have 60 votes in the Senate. They can't pass anything over the unified opposition of the Dems. Talk about having "majoraties and the presidency" ignores this.
ReplyDeleteObamaCare was passed with a Dem 60 votes (a lock) in the Senate. This was a hasty job, with the intent to fill in the blanks later. But, a few special elections (eg Scott Brown) removed their lock and unilateral power, and OCare proceeded with illegal executive actions by Obama.
The Pubs are to blame for repeatedly passing repeal bills in the House when those had no chance of approval either by the Senate or Obama. This turns out to have been mostly an advertising campaign to collect contributions. The Pubs developed no alternative healthcare policy during their 8 years of being the comfortable, opposition party.
How can the Dems routinely pass their legislation without a Senate lock? Because, many Pub senators are Dems in disguise, or they come from districts where both the Dem and the Pub are merely varieties of moderate Dems. Many Pub senators have crossed over to the Dem side for legislation.
No Dems in the current far-left Dem party will cross over for Pub legislation. Absolutly not if it would damage their utopian goal of controlling all of society through healthcare.
The only path for the Pubs is to fiddle with "reconcilliation" bills, which require only a simple majority in the Senate. Reconcilliation means budgeting. The Pubs could defund OCare.
But, the Dems would scream that the Pubs were sabotaging OCare out of spite. OCare would work with a bit more funds, they would say. The Pubs have been stupidly inarticulate and have not prepared a message which would defend against this. The Pubs haven't even pointed out that they lack the power to just repeal OCare. Idiots.
There is also the likelyhood that most Pubs are shadow socialists and supporters of big government. That is their career after all. Protests against OCare are probably only marketing positions.
A few principled senators are blocking the Senate reconcilliation bill. Their sensible position is that it doesn't defund OCare, and in fact establishes funding for most of OCare, making repeal unlikely in the future.
Look at the empirical facts. Socialism is popular with the majority, who can't predict the future. Socialism is great until the big collapse. What is going to stop it? Not the Pubs.
Chavez and Maduro in Venezuela were idiots, but claimed great fortunes by handing out socialist goodies. Germany and France are happily marching to the cliff. The US will truly earn the mark of exceptionalism if we avoid single-payer healthcare. The Veteran's Administration is the ideal. The odds are in favor of a glorious, Socialist march to a utopian future.
"The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under
Deletethe name of 'liberalism' they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist
program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without
knowing how it happened."
Norman Thomas
The Republicans have the votes in the Senate to amend the rules of the Senate and eliminate or alter the filibuster altogether, allowing the Senate to pass legislation on a simple majority basis. It may be Nuclear Option 2, but it exists and can be exercised if they had the will and desire to do so.
Delete"ObamaCare was passed with a Dem 60 votes (a lock) in the Senate"
DeleteNo, they had 50 plus a temporary appointed Senator to take Kennedy's seat. Scott Brown was elected but his swearing in was delayed so they could maneuver the bill with 50. That;s why Reconciliation was used to approve an incomplete House bill.
To Michael K,
DeleteIt was 60 Dem votes on the Senate OCare bill, but Dem votes fell to 59 shortly later, when Ted Kennedy died and was replaced by Pub Scott Brown. The negotiation with the House to pass the same bill was done under reconcilliation, requiring only 51 Senate votes. No Pub in the Senate voted YES on OCare.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act#Background
=== ===
On December 23, the Senate voted 60–39 to end debate on the bill: a cloture vote to end the filibuster. The bill then passed, also 60–39, on December 24, 2009, with all Democrats and two independents voting for it, and all Republicans against (except Jim Bunning, who did not vote)
=== ===
"Fact check." verb: To summarize one's personal biases.
ReplyDeleteI need to remove news.google's "new fact check box" that gives me all of their 'fact check' crap, which is nothing more than "sources which agree with our managements' personal positions on news items". Remember... this is the second step after convincing people that much of the news out there is fake.... ie, now we will *officially* tell you which news is fake, so you don't have to think for yourselves!
- reader #1482
And the latest news that McCain has an aggressive brain tumor. I can only hope for either a speedy and complete recovery, or for a quick and painless end.
ReplyDeleteThe cynic in me see's this as the reason for the bizarre behavior McCain has exhibited for the past few years.
Diplomad,
ReplyDeleteThe mysterious Jeffrey Sachs emerges once again from the depths.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/07/20/clinton-foundation-un-tight-lipped-over-private-top-level-meeting/
Like you (and I assume most other here), I am a big supporter of Israel. However, this is just wrong.
ReplyDeleteIt would be of interest if you could (diplomatically) relate how your inlaws felt about how things are going over here ... over the whipped-up paella, of course ...
ReplyDeleteDon't despair...see if my new documentary interests you: https://thetrumpeffectmovie.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteYouTube link here: https://youtu.be/FmhfRi5j8aA
DeleteWell Diplomad Sir, depending on whether Mueller follows Politico or not your boredom might well lift - asides from Wasserman-Shultz these Awan characters also "secured" John Podesta's systems.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/25/debbie-wasserman-schultz-aide-arrest-240960
JK
h/t LB