"We are all going to die" (so who cares if Medicaid gets cut and some die sooner......)

 

May 31, 2025 (131/1461)

Just when you think the R’s can’t go lower…..Joni Ernst sank a new bar. Possibly below sea level. She was holding a town hall with people in Iowa (my fair home state) and had the audacity to respond to someone exclaiming that without Medicaid, people will die with…

“People are not ... well, we all are going to die,” Ernst said, drawing groans. “So, for heaven’s sakes. For heaven’s sakes, folks.” Um. Yah. FOR HEAVEN’S SAKES, folks! And for everyone else’s sake as well. This is her answer?? I hope they all remember this statement at the mid terms. And I hope they start calling her Marie Antoinette. Eat cake, indeed.

“Facing several constituents concerned about cuts to Medicaid, she defended the $700 billion in reduced spending, saying it would keep immigrants in the U.S. illegally and those who have access to insurance through their employers off the rolls. A preliminary estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the proposals would reduce the number of people with health care by 8.6 million over the decade.” And just what pray tell does she think those 9 million people are going to do when they inevitably get sick? For the love of all that is sane and ethical, listen to yourself! I can’t think of a better example of the queen on her throne unconcerned about the peasants. Wait until the peasants riot.

The visa war is still plowing ahead hot and heavy. Popular Mexican band, Grupo Firme announced they will cancel all of their US shows. Not because they can’t fill the venues. TOM has suspended their visas. “Grupo Firme, which has soared to international fame playing Mexican regional music, said in a statement posted on its Instagram account that the visas of them and their team are currently under "administrative review by the U.S. Embassy" and that it would make it "impossible" for them to perform in the La Onda Fest to be held in the city of Napa Valley, California on June 1.” How is this any different from hip hop and rap artists talking about living in violence-riddled parts of US cities? It is the experience of young people today. It is writing about what they know and live. Every day. And because TOM finds it distasteful, we are going to sweep it under the rug and bury it?

And the Wheel of Fortune for tariffs has now landed on…..STEEL again. Feeling a need to boost his ego with people who will say he’s doing the best job ever, TOM once again spun his tariff wheel and came up with 50% on steel. Like throwing darts, this guy. And the worst part is, the poor saps in Pittsburgh believe him. They think he is actually going to go to bat for them and “save” the steel industry in the US. Because of his oh-so-good track record on sticking to the tariffs he spouts off? TACO trade, people. TACO trade. "We are going to be imposing a 25% increase. We're going to bring it from 25% to 50% the tariffs on steel into the United States of America, which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States," he said. Mr. Trump later noted on his Truth Social platform that the increase would also be applied to aluminum, and would take effect on June 4.”

“Mr. Trump's announcement last week was the latest twist in Nippon's yearslong effort to acquire U.S. Steel. Its nearly $15 billion bid to buy U.S. Steel was blocked by former President Joe Biden in January on national security grounds. 

Mr. Trump, who opposed the acquisition during the 2024 campaign, has since warmed to a deal between the steel producers, touting a $14 billion investment that the president said would "create and save over 100,000 American jobs." 

"You're going to be very happy," Mr. Trump said Friday. "There's a lot of money coming your way." 

Mr. Trump said the deal includes "vital protections to ensure that all steel workers will keep their jobs and all facilities in the United States will remain open and thriving." He added that U.S. Steel would also keep all of its blast furnace facilities at full capacity for at least the next decade and vowed that there would be "no layoffs and no outsourcing whatsoever." Every worker at U.S. Steel would soon be receiving a $5,000 bonus as well, he said. “

Now TOM really is taking a little line out of It Can’t Happen Here.”  The main platform that the fascist candidate (soon president) runs on is “$5000 for every citizen!” Spoiler alert…..it never happens. I’d like to see TOM face those same steel workers when this deal doesn’t pan out and when they get laid off and when NO ONE gets $5000.

TOM and Musky consciously uncouple

 

May 30, 2025 (130/1461)

Well here’s one I never thought I’d see. Musky with a black eye, in the Oval. Sounds like the beginning of the solution to a Clue game. But there it was. In his presser with TOM, he claims he was horsing around with X and got it. Ok. I’ll give it to him as at least a good quick response. But I might lean more toward the ketamine and psychedelic schrooms he consumed all along the campaign trail last year. This was the weirdest “conscious uncoupling” moment in recent history. Definitely an awkward kiss-kiss, pat-pat situation. We may never know what really went down between the two. But I’ll buy the tell-all when Musky gets bored and finds a ghostwriter to do it.

If TOM isn’t careful he might be next in line for a pop to the puss. “As he crisscrossed the country in 2024, Donald Trump pledged to supporters that voting him back into the presidency would be “our final battle.” “With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state,” he said repeatedly on the campaign trail. “We will liberate our country from these tyrants and villains once and for all.” Seems some of his biggest backers are now calling him to task on that very issue. Where’s Waldo? is echoing on the airwaves. “His Justice Department has not yet arrested hordes of “deep state” actors as some of his supporters had hoped it would, even as the president has been posting cryptic videos and memes about Democratic politicians. “People are tired of not knowing,” conservative commentator Damani Felder said on podcaster Tim Pool’s show last week. “We actually demand answers and real transparency. It’s not that hard to deliver.” The narrative has gained momentum on the right because of allegations that Biden’s aides covered up his mental and physical decline. Presidents have used autopens for years to sign certain documents.

“Whoever used it was usurping the power of the Presidency, and it should be very easy to find out who that person (or persons) is,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

At least one user of his platform was unimpressed and questioned why Trump and his allies, holding all the power, still didn’t have any answers.

“IF IT’S EASY,” the commenter posted. “WHY HASN’T YOUR ADMINISTRATION FOUND THESE CRIMINAL’S ALREADY.” Uh ohhhh. Sounds like the one-eye-glassed squinting emoji is on a few keyboards more than before.

And since it’s officially summer (Memorial Day weekend now past), take note of this little gem. Expect to see higher rates this summer from heatstroke. And that would be because TOM fired everyone who oversaw the program that provides subsidies for heating and cooling to those who can’t afford it. “Case in point is the relatively low-profile Low Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP. Created by Congress in 1981 as a means to help people afford the costs of heating and cooling their homes, it currently helps some 6.2 million people pay their bills. In early April, the Trump administration fired the program’s entire staff of fewer than 30 people, whose jobs were housed within Robert F. Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services. As temperatures continue to rise, however, all policy is climate policy. Cuts that make people poorer also make them more vulnerable to baking in their homes; programs that keep people out of poverty help them avoid meeting that fate. In the short term, especially, LIHEAP, SNAP, and Medicaid are arguably as important to surviving a warming world as any of the programs that Democrats might advertise as being a part of their climate agenda. If Republicans take an ax to all of the above, they’ll have blood on their hands.” Watch the news reports this summer, folks. The number who die of heat is going to be criminal.

Tariffs are off, on, off and on again......

 

May 29, 2025 (129/1461)

I hope TOM put on his combat suit today because the hits are coming fast and hard. A federal court blocked TOM on the use of the tariffs under an emergency powers act. And Musky officially called it quits with TOM and Co. More on all of those in a bit. But here’s my “hmmm that’s interesting” thing for today. SO! I finally see why TOM has such a big push to get “criminal” immigrants out of our country. He wants room for our own home grown criminals to run loose. So far, let’s see we have the Chrisley’s who stole $30 million in loans from Atlanta banks; former CT Gov Rowland who concealed his involvement in two federal election campaigns; Rapper NBA YoungBoy who was in for gun possession while on parole (for running a prescription drug fraud ring); gang leader Larry Hoover was let out of supermax (don’t you feel safe now?); and Michale Grimm, NYRep who resigned once convicted of tax fraud. Quite the stellar bunch of American citizens. All now free to roam the streets. Since pardons aren’t usually done until the end of a term, you could see how TOM had to make for “our” criminals on the streets and had to get rid of “illegal” criminals. (That’s redundant, huh?).

OK! Musky. We all knew it was going to end. There just isn’t that much room in the country for those two egos. And we all pretty much knew Musky would be over it before TOM got around to kicking him to the curb. Also, that little $288 mil that Elon put into TOM’s coffers…I’m not sure who was the dog or the tail but there are so many cross-over conflicts of interest, it looks like a Jacob’s Ladder string game. “His departure, announced Wednesday evening, marks the end of a turbulent chapter that included thousands of layoffs, the evisceration of government agencies and reams of litigation. Despite the upheaval, the billionaire entrepreneur struggled in the unfamiliar environment of Washington, and he accomplished far less than he hoped.”  Not quite like going into a company with a chainsaw and ripping it apart, is it Elon? Companies don’t have checks and balances. Companies don’t have guardrails set in place by the Constitution. I don’t disagree with the premise behind reducing excessive, redundant spending, but the tactics leave much to be desired.

The tariff halt has been a nice push for the stock market. So I’ll give a shout out thank you for that. “A federal appeals court on Thursday allowed President Donald Trump to continue collecting tariffs under an emergency powers law, for now, as his administration appeals an order striking down the bulk of his signature set of economic policies.

Earlier today, a federal judge blocked Trump’s use of the law to impose tariffs. The ruling was handed down the day after a similar, broader finding from a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of International Trade.” But an appeals court then turned around and allowed to TOM to keep the tariffs under the emergency powers act. Whew. Head spinning to say the least.