Sunday Funday: Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? Edition

Posted on November 5, 2023 by Dave Bradley

‘Tis that Sunday when the sun has moved some direction in the middle of the night and we will all go to bed around 4:30 when the sun chariot leaves the sky early.

However, Today is the birthday of a person we should all know but hardly anyone does. A fellow named John Peter Zenger. What did he do that we should know him? Well, pull up a chair and spend about ten minutes learning something few Americans are familiar with. 

Freedom of the press is still a contentious issue in this country, One SCOTUS justice, Clarence Thomas, would love to just rip it out of the constitution. And who knows, maybe he can’t rip it out, but he can lessen its effect.

Well, Lordy, there was a bunch going on this week. Let’s start with the reappearance of a name from the past:

A) What former governor of Maryland and former presidential nominee was introduced as the nominee to head the Social Security Administration this week?

B) Two MAGA candidates for president dropped from the race. Can you name both of them?

C) What Minnesota congress member launched a primary challenge to President Biden last week?

D) Many more disturbing facts continue to seep out about new House Speaker Mike Johnson including that neither Johnson nor his spouse have what normal place to stash their money?

E) Big Ten fans and college basketball fans mark the passing of what legendary college basketball coach this week?

F) Iowa’s governor Kim Reynolds joined 14 other MAGA governors to write a letter to the Biden administration to complain about new administration rules concerning what industry last week?

G) The Senate Judiciary Committee announced they would subpoena what two major figures who have been associated with paying off Supreme Court Justices?

H) The Trump fraud damage hearings will continue next week in NYC with who as witnesses FOR the Trump side Monday and Tuesday?

I) In California a man was awarded $332 million because of cancer he claimed was caused by what Monsanto product?

J) It was a short World Series. Who won in how many games?

K) In Indiana, AG Todd Rokita was issued a public reprimand for his comments against a doctor who did what for a 10 year old girl from Ohio?

L) Speaking of Ohio, citizens of Ohio will be voting Tuesday on a constitutional amendment to protect what in Ohio?

M) This Wednesday what group will be gathering together once again to talk some politics?

N) What MAGA presidential candidate seemed lost in the ozone once again Sunday when he couldn’t remember where he was?

O) A 14 year old boy from Annandale, Virginia won ‘America’s Best Young Scientist’ award for his creation of what product?

P) Bing, bing, bing! The UAW settled quickly with the big 3 automakers last week. What other major auto maker with plants in the US announced big wages for its workers despite not having union representation?

Q) Wall Street celebrated as new jobs reports came in under what expected number of new jobs for October?

R) Republicans in the US Senate rose up against the military promotions hold that what Senator has had on the US military since February?

S) With the help of 31 Democratic votes what scurrilous MAGA House member escaped expulsion from the US House last week?

T) Finally in rich people screwing us over news, what once extremely rich person was found guilty of fraud on all counts Thursday and may be facing 120 years in the slammer?

Ginni Thomas Says Mike Johnson’s Wife Seems a Little Crazy. – Andy Borowitz

Answers:

A) Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley

B) Mike Pence was the most known. Larry Elder was the other (I will give you some time to look him up)

C) Dean Phillips 

D) Neither have a checking or savings account. Very Curious

E) Bobby Knight

F) Nursing Homes. They were against rules to make nursing homes more responsible

G) Leo Leonard and Harlan Crow will be subpoenaed along with Robin Arkley II

H) Trump himself and daughter Ivanka

I) Roundup

J) Texas in 5 games

K) Doctor Caitlin Bernard performed an abortion on a 10 year old girl from Ohio after the SCOTUS Dobbs decision made abortion unobtainable in Ohio

L) Abortion – Go Ohio

M) MAGA presidential candidates will have a debate in Miami minus the big MAGA himself

N) The big MAGA himself – Trump thought he was in Sioux Falls when he was in Sioux City

O) Heman Bekele created a soap that can fight skin cancer as you wash.

P) Toyota

Q) 170,000 were expected – 150,000 were reported – probably due to the UAW strike and its fallout

R) Tommy Tuberville

S) George Santos

T) Sam Bankman Fried

Remember, remember the Fifth of November (It is Guy Fawkes Day)

Posted in #nevertrump, Humor | Comments Off on Sunday Funday: Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? Edition

Rep. Nunn Distorts Record On Social Security, Medicare 

Posted on November 4, 2023 by Dave Bradley

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 30, 2023

CONTACT

Sarah Bell | press@fairnessforiowa.org

Representative Zach Nunn makes claims about Social Security, Medicare that don’t add up

Des Moines, Iowa — Representative Zach Nunn took to social media recently to peddle dishonest claims that he protects  Social Security and Medicare and would “ensure no politician plays games” with the programs. The truth is, Nunn took multiple votes that would undermine access to these critical programs. He even introduced legislation that would lead to massive cuts to these programs, making it harder for seniors to access the benefits they earned.


More than 661,000 Iowans are enrolled in Medicare benefits, while 677,000 Iowans receive Social Security benefits, and Iowans need leaders who work to protect these benefits, not threaten to take them away.

“Zach Nunn can run from the truth, but he can’t hide from his record,” said Matt Sinovic, executive director of Progress Iowa. “Rep. Nunn continues to ignore the needs of Iowans. Instead he voted for extreme measures that would harm working people and seniors. Those aren’t Iowa values. Iowans need Congress to protect and expand the benefits they’ve paid into and earned. Their hard work demands better than dishonest claims from the Congressman.”

###

Fairness for Iowa is a statewide grassroots campaign to uplift the stories of hard-working Iowans. We know that when the middle class does well, all of us do well — which is why we’re fighting on behalf of working Americans and holding corporations, wealthy executives, and the politicians who enable them accountable. Our coalition includes Iowa Citizen Action Network, Iowa Federation of Labor AFL-CIO, AFSCME Council 61, Health Care for America Now, Lower Drug Prices Now Iowa, Iowa Main Streets and Country Roads, and Progress Iowa.

Comment:

Representative Nunn is hardly the only one. The whole Iowa delegation shares his distorted views that Social Security and Medicare are huge drains on our government. What Nunn and others are only concerned about is that the morbidly wealthy who now pay little in taxes may have to pay a few more dollars in taxes to keep these programs viable.

One of the best moves that would help make Medicare viable would be to end Medicare Advantage.

One thing that would keep Social Security viable would be to end the cap on income that can be taxed for Social Security. I believe it is now capped at $160,000/ year. Of course that would also necessitate having a way to honestly calculate income for America’s wealthiest citizens. 

(4 minutes)

Posted in Medicare, Social Security | Tagged | Comments Off on Rep. Nunn Distorts Record On Social Security, Medicare 

“Medicare” “Advantage” Gets Worse

Posted on November 4, 2023 by Dave Bradley

(16 minutes)

Remember “Medicare Advantage” is neither “Medicare” nor is there any “Advantage.” It should be a crime that private insurance companies are allowed to use the term “Medicare” which conveys some form of approval or oversight by the US government for these plans. There is no oversight or approval. It is a private insurance scam that is draining the Medicare system of funds while shorting customers on service.

Now doctors and hospitals are withdrawing from using these plans because the plans refuse to pay for services. Real Medicare does pay and it pays on time. Note also that if you have one of these private policies you MUST use doctors and hospitals in network or you have no coverage. 

Unfortunately, once you get “Medicare Advantage” moving to real Medicare is not so easy. I do not have any prescription for getting out of the Advantage system. If it were me I would call the government Medicare system and see what can be done. Remember insurance agents are there to sell you insurance which is what Medicare Advantage is.

I recently wrote on the scam of Medicare Advantage a couple of weeks ago. You can read it here.

These private insurance Advantage plans are also having a big effect on rural hospitals. As explained here in an analysis from NPR, the private Advantage plans create real problems for rural hospitals:

Kelly Adams is the CEO of Mesa View Regional Hospital, another rural hospital in Nevada. He says he applauds Battle Mountain’s Bleak for keeping Medicare Advantage plans out of his hospital “as long as he has.”

Mesa View, which is a little more than an hour’s drive east of Las Vegas, has a high percentage of patients enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans.

“Am I going to say I’m not going to take care of 40% of our patients at the hospital or the clinic?” Adams says, adding that it would be a “tough deal” to be forced to reject patients because they didn’t have traditional Medicare.

Mesa View has 21 Medicare Advantage contracts with multiple insurance companies. Adams says he has trouble getting the plans to pay for care the hospital has provided. They are either “slow pay or no pay,” he said.

With slow pay or no pay, eventually hospitals – especially smaller hospitals – will have to shut down. 

As with many of the problems facing life in the USA here days, the privatized Advantage programs are a creation of the Republican (now MAGA) party’s penchant for putting private company profits above fixing the problem. Taking care of billionaires is much more important to MAGAs than taking care of the average citizen.

Keep that in mind when you vote next year. 

Wednesday Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds along with a group of MAGA governors sent a letter to the White House protesting a new rule for nursing homes to have a registered nurse on staff 24 hours a day. Also in the new rules were requirements that ensure residents a minimum number of hours of daily care.  

While the governors claim that they were protesting overreach by the federal government, I would submit that once again the MAGA politicians were much more concerned about keeping profits high and costs low for yet one more piece of America’s horribly splintered privatized healthcare system.

Brother, does America’s healthcare system need a complete overhaul with service to the citizen as its core focus.

Posted in #trumpresistance, Medicare, Medicare for all | Tagged , , | Comments Off on “Medicare” “Advantage” Gets Worse

Trump The Insurrectionist

Posted on November 3, 2023 by Trish Nelson

I have found that ex-Republicans are worth listening to because they – unlike liberals myself included – totally get how Republicans “think” because they used to be in the club. Adam Kinzinger was a guest on  Colbert and they are discussing the Colorado case happening now to determine whether the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban” can be used to prevent Donald Trump from appearing on Colorado’s presidential election ballot due to the small matter of Trump being an insurrectionist.

I’ve been watching the courtroom drama as much as I can this week. You can stream the trial on C-SPAN and I would definitely recommend. The full playlist is here starting at day 1 up to day 4; not sure if they’re going into Day 5.  I jumped in at Day 2 here where the testimony was about communication patterns fascist leaders use to tell their followers what to do.  I’m no lawyer but it seemed like the petitioners were making a pretty good case.  It’s engrossing and a free education on more than just Section 3 of the 14th amendment.  Plus, I find it calming during these crazy times to watch defenders of democracy at work.

Free Speech for People, has filed similar lawsuits in Michigan and Minnesota. The Minnesota case goes in front of that state’s supreme court on Thursday.

And there you have it.  Happy Friday to our loyal followers.

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Pharmaceutical Workers Walk Out

Posted on November 2, 2023 by Trish Nelson

Pharmaggedon: Massive walkout by non-union workers.

“Pharmacy workers, largely from CVS and Walgreens, are mad as hell and they’re not going to take it anymore…they’ve had enough. Pharma protests, non-union but organized, have been happening across the country, seeking relief from under-staffing and asking for paychecks they can actually LIVE on.”

MORE FROM THOM 📃 Read Thom Hartmann’s latest Daily Take at HartmannReport.com 🎦 Watch a full program re-run anytime: http://www.patreon.com/thomhartmann 🎧 Audio Podcast: http://thom.tv 📜 Free Newsletter: http://hartmannreport.com 👕 Merchandise: https://teespring.com/stores/thom-har… 🍺 Thom Merchandise: https://teespring.com/thom-hartmann-m… FOLLOW THOM 📕 AMAZON: http://amzn.to/2hS4UwY 📝 DAILY TAKE: http://hartmannreport.com 👥 FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/ThomHartmannP… 📸 INSTAGRAM: http://www.instagram.com/Thom_Hartmann 🎦 PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/thomhartmann 🐦 TWITTER/X: http://www.twitter.com/thom_hartmann 🌐 WEBSITE: http://www.thomhartmann.com 📺 YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c…

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Corporations Are Still Funding ALEC

Posted on November 1, 2023 by Trish Nelson


From our inbox: Here is a petition signing alert from the Center for Media and Democracy

Yes, ALEC is still a thing.

Help Demand That Corporations Stop Funding ALEC!

Here at CMD, we’ve been exposing the insidious right-wing and corporate pay-to-play activities of ALEC for more than a decade.

Now, we’re asking for your help.

Time and again, ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council) has aligned itself with right-wing extremists and a legislative agenda that harms our democracy, our environment, and our rights.

Whether it’s pushing legislation for the tobacco industry and gun manufacturers, promoting the American Petroleum Institute’s climate denial plan, demonizing sustainable and inclusive business practices, supporting voter suppression, or backing abortion bans, ALEC’s radical positions are out of line with the American public – and even with many of its corporate members.

That’s why CMD and other environmental, social justice, and democracy groups are calling on corporations that claim to respect the environment, civil rights, reproductive freedom, and fair elections to quit ALEC.

Please sign the petition to tell corporations to stop funding ALEC now!

Thanks to pressure from people like you, more than 100 major corporations have dumped ALEC since we launched ALEC Exposed in 2011 — including Google, Coca-Cola, and AT&T — but many more keep funding its harmful operations.

More than 60,000 people have already signed the petition, and your voice makes a difference!

So, join the campaign to get big corporations to put their money where their values are and stop enabling ALEC’s extreme agenda!

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What Is The Impact Of Livestock Consolidation On Rural Iowa?

Posted on October 31, 2023 by Trish Nelson

Click on the image to go to the event page

Bigger Is Not Better: Rural Communities In the Wake of Livestock Consolidation
Online Event by Jefferson County Farmers & Neighbors, Inc. – JFAN
Public ·
Registration link https://bit.ly/3tD6xIr
Thursday, November 9 at 7 p.m.

The livestock industry is heavily consolidated. Just four companies control a disproportionate 67% of the pork, 73% of the beef and 54% of the chicken markets. Rural America pays a heavy price for the multinational corporate takeover of livestock farming.

ART CULLEN, Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of The Storm Lake Times, headlines a compelling panel of experts, farmers, and neighbors to take a hard look at how livestock consolidation impacts rural America. The JFAN Annual Meeting, “Bigger is Not Better: Rural Communities In the Wake of Livestock Consolidation.”

Cullen will be joined by DR. CHRIS JONES, water quality expert and author of The Swine Republic; independent hog farmer CHRIS PETERSEN; and family farmer and attorney SONJA EAYRS, all offering a variety of perspectives on how livestock consolidation hollows out rural communities.

Speakers will kick off the meeting with presentations, but the bulk of the evening will consist of a substantial audience question and answer session.

Reporting on Iowa issues for over 38 years, Cullen has directly witnessed how livestock consolidation impacts the state. He’ll share an insider’s view on its effects in both his home town of Storm Lake and throughout Iowa. Cullen’s writings include the environmental, economic, and political consequences of livestock consolidation for The Storm Lake Times as well as for national and international publications including The Washington Post and The Guardian.

Dr. Jones is well known for his experience in monitoring Iowa’s water quality. He will lay out how the growth of factory farms and its accompanying corn/soy monocropping system degrades Iowa’s waterways. Dr. Jones will also candidly cover how Iowa’s legislature is affected by powerful agribusiness influences.

Independent hog farmers have been hard hit – 92% have gone out of business over the last 50 years. But independent Berkshire hog farmer Chris Petersen from Clear Lake, Iowa is holding on. Petersen will talk about how consolidation has influenced his family farm business and those of other independent family farmers and how the social structure of rural Iowa has changed.

Consolidation also impacts neighbors in rural communities. Family farmer and attorney Sonja Eayrs watched 12 CAFOs encroach upon her family’s 760 acre farm over the past 30 years. She will speak about her experiences fighting CAFOs in Dodge County, Minnesota, located 30 miles north of Iowa, and how they have affected her farm, her family, and her community.

ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS

ART CULLEN is the editor and co-owner of The Storm Lake Times, a family owned, independent newspaper in northwest Iowa that he co-founded in 1990. In 2015, the Des Moines Water Works sued three counties for funneling high levels of nitrate into its drinking water. Cullen let loose a series of 10 hard-hitting editorials, uncovering and challenging the dark money from corporate agriculture that funded the counties’ legal defense. It won him the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing in 2017. He’s the author of Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, and Hope from a Heartland Newspaper.

DR. CHRIS JONES is a retired Research Engineer formerly at the IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering at the University of Iowa. For eight years he managed the Iowa Water Quality Information System, a program of 66 water sensors throughout the state reporting nitrate levels in real time. Dr. Jones’ University of Iowa blog became the basis of his popular book, The Swine Republic. In it, Dr. Jones covers the science, politics, culture, and economics of Iowa’s agriculture system, linking Iowa’s deteriorated waterways to the state’s legislated agricultural practices. His new blog can be found at Substack.com/@riverraccoon.

CHRIS PETERSEN is a lifelong independent and traditional family farmer in Clear Lake, Iowa raising antibiotic-free Berkshire hogs on a humane, small-scale farm. He manages a herd of 50 sows, selling piglets to other small-scale Berkshire farmers and raising some to finishing weight that he sells through direct marketing. Petersen’s farm barely survived the 1980’s farm crisis which drove many small-scale farmers out of business. He’s a past president and current board member of the Iowa Farmers Union, a co-founder of the Iowa Alliance for Responsible Agriculture, a member of various national groups, and a fierce advocate for family farmers.

SONJA TROM EAYRS is a farmer’s daughter, rural advocate and attorney. Her family has been on the front lines fighting industrial agriculture for 30 years. Encircled by 12 hog CAFOs within a 3-mile radius of the Trom family farm, Eayrs and her family know and understand firsthand the damage sustained to rural America by large multinational corporations. She has worked and written extensively on threats to the environment, public health, and corporate consolidation due to industrial agriculture. Eayrs, her family members, and other local citizens founded Dodge County Concerned Citizens, a grassroots organization determined to fight corporate factory farms.

Questions from audience participants are welcome and encouraged.

Visit the event page for a link to registration and more info.

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They All Voted For The Radical Agenda

Posted on October 30, 2023 by Trish Nelson

Now we vote them out.

Republicans in the House of Representatives including Iowa’s Zach Nunn, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Ashley Hinson and Randy Feenstra, voted for Trump’s friend, so-called MAGA Mike Johnson for speaker who said that programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security pose an “existential threat” to the American way of life and the “whole form of government.”  

He’s not just using vague rhetoric either.  He has proposed literally trillions of dollars of cuts to these programs.  Not just proposed, but “vigorously championed” budget resolutions proposing trillions in cuts to these programs.  All of Iowa’s representatives in congress voted for him to be speaker. This is not an acceptable situation. If you are a Democrat or no-party voter in Iowa you essentially have no one representing your interests or point of view in congress.

Fortunately, there is good news. Representatives Miller-Meeks, Hinson and Feenstra all have Democratic opponents, giving voters a huge opportunity to remove these MAGA extremist Republicans from office.

As it stands right now, Iowans have NO Democratic representation in either DC or Des Moines. All four congressmen and women are Republicans. Republicans also control the Iowa senate, the house and the governor’s office. I  heard from a reliable source that one of these Republican representatives actually told high school students at a town hall event that because Republicans are in the majority they did not have to listen to anything they said. This is appalling.

As state auditor Rob Sand has said many times, he is the only statewide Democrat left standing and they are trying to attack his office and the courts as we speak.

Here are the Democratic challengers we MUST elect

IA-04
Democrat Ryan Melton v Randy Feenstra
Website: https://www.meltonforiowa.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/melton4iowa
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meltonforiowa

IA-01
Democrat Christina Bohannan v Marianette Miller-Meeks
Website:  https://www.bohannanforcongress.com/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/BohannanIowa
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christina.bohannan.5

IA-02
Democrat Sarah Corkery v Ashley Hinson
Website:  https://www.corkeryforcongress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CorkeryCongress
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CorkeryForUSCongress

At the time of this posting we have not heard if there will be a challenger to Zach Nunn’s seat in IA-03 but we hope to hear something soon.

Please support these candidates. We cannot afford to let the party of the January 6 insurrection, that wants to take down the social safety net, continue to have their way unchallenged.

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It’s The Tax Cuts, Stupid!

Posted on October 29, 2023 by Dave Bradley

Thom Hartmann explains MAGA two Santa Clause Theory. Hartmann explains how MAGAs cut taxes for the rich hoping to force Democrats to “shoot their own Santa Clause” or that is cut their social programs – especially Social Security and Medicare. (9:36)

America now has a Speaker of the House who has a target on programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. As explained in Thom Hartmann’s brilliant video above Speaker Mike Johnson blames the debt on the Democrats social programs. 

What is never talked about and what MAGA politicians refuse to even acknowledge is that the basic generator of our debt and deficit is tax cuts for the rich. MAGAs, including Iowa’s poorly informed and puppet like delegation of Miller-Meeks, Hinson, Nunn and Feenstra, will refuse to talk about raising taxes. The conversation is only around cutting services and programs for those who will be most greatly affected by such cuts.

Corporate media who are among the greatest recipients of the Tax Cut Santa Clause and the millionaires and billionaires who run these corporations and also big recipients of the Tax Cut Santa Clause have spent decades steering American opinion to believe that tax cuts for the exceptionally wealthy are good and a pittance for the poor is really bad. That is the gospel that most people will regurgitate when asked simply because they have been brainwashed by the media.

Last week, the Treasury Department released a report that released new figures related to the 2023 budget that showed a troubling drop in the nation’s tax revenue compared to GDP. In an analysis that I wish I could post verbatim, Common Dreams reporter Jon Queally analyzes the report and shows how tax cuts for the wealthy drive the debt and deficit while the pittance for the poor and Social Security gets the blame.   

While much of the reporting on the Treasury figures painted a picture of various and overlapping dynamics to explain the surge in the deficit—including higher payments on debt due to interest rates, tax filing waivers related to extreme weather events, the impact of a student loan forgiveness program that was later rescinded, or a dip in capital gains receipts—progressive tax experts say none of those complexities should act to shield what’s at the heart of a budget that brings in less than it spends: tax giveaways to the rich.

{snip}

“The point I want to make again and again and again is that, relative to the last time CBO was projecting stable debt/GDP, spending is down, not up,” Kogan said in a tweet Friday night. “It’s lower revenue that’s 100% responsible for the change in debt projections. If you take away nothing else, leave with this point.”

{snip}

On Friday, the office of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) cited those same numbers in a press release responding to the Treasury’s new report.

“Tax giveaways for the wealthy are continuing to starve the federal government of needed revenue: those passed by former Presidents Trump and Bush have added $10 trillion to the debt and account for 57 percent of the increase in the debt-to-GDP ratio since 2001,” read the statement. “If not for those tax cuts, U.S. debt would be declining as a share of the economy.”

Whitehouse, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, said the dip in federal revenue and growth in the overall deficit both have the same primary cause: GOP fealty to the wealthy individuals and powerful corporations that bankroll their campaigns.

“In their blind loyalty to their mega-donors, Republicans’ fixation on giant tax cuts for billionaires has created a revenue problem that is driving up our national debt,” Whitehouse said Friday night. “Even as federal spending fell over the last year relative to the size of the economy, the deficit increased because Republicans have rigged the tax code so that big corporations and the wealthy can avoid paying their fair share.”

While this is a pipe dream on my account it would be so wonderful to have reporters calling MAGA politicians on their claims that social programs are driving the country into debt and deficit and force those MAGA politicians to directly answer for what the real drivers of debt and deficit are: tax cuts for the extreme wealthy. 

Plus I would so love to see those same reporters box MAGA politicians into answering what they intend to do about those excessive tax cuts and how they would heal the problems such huge gaps in wealth and income have done to our country.

A boy can dream, can’t he? When the election comes around next year I will be looking for candidates who face our economic problems with the reality based view that tax cuts for the rich are the real culprit of problems.

Posted in #nevertrump, 2024 election, Medicare, Republican Policy, Social Security | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on It’s The Tax Cuts, Stupid!

Sunday Funday: Happy Halloween Edition

Posted on October 29, 2023 by Dave Bradley

David Shuster interviews what must be people from another planet (8:30)

Usually I get pretty excited about Halloween, but after yet another horrible mass shooting in a somewhat idyllic spot of Americana, I kind of wonder if celebrating Halloween this year is a good idea. Maybe it is just better to keep the young ones home and safe this year. Not a good idea to send children out as what may turn out to be targets for some gun crazy dude with a grudge and a death wish.

MAGA demands continue to tear at the fabric of the country. No sense feeding it. And please – no more politicians uttering those absolutely useless “thoughts and prayers” condescensions – do something!

If you can, have a good holiday, but please, please be safe.

A) The site of the most recent mass murder is Lewiston, Maine which is a small city. How big is Lewiston, Maine?

B) Hurricane Otis started the week by smashing what major vacation destination Tuesday?

C) In one of the greatest political collapses of all time, Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota withdrew from the race to be Speaker of the House how many hours after he was nominated?

D) Because of the “unpredictable nature of the regulatory and government processes” what CO2 pipeline company abandoned its pipeline project in Iowa Monday?

E) Witches should get better treatment, especially this time of year. Hey you old folks, what was the name of Samantha and Darin’s little witch on Bewitched back in the ‘60s?

F) What was the specific reason the Tom Emmer was rejected by the MAGA caucus in his run for the Speakership?

G) Who did win the Speakership the next day on a unanimous MAGA party vote?

H) In the penalty phase of the Trump company fraud civil trial, the judge has so far issued how many penalties for breaking the court imposed gag rules?

I) Also in that trial, who has been compelled to testify after November 1?

J) What teen TV witch had a mischievous black cat and a couple of witch aunts who always harshed her good times?

K) The UAW announced a tentative strike deal with which of the Big Three automakers Wednesday?

L) Many in Iowa were startled by an Amber Alert Wednesday night. How did that come out?

M) As the walls close in on Donald Trump, what close aide was granted immunity Tuesday?

N) More witches. Who was the Good Witch in 1939’s “Wizard of Oz” and what region was she from?

O) What member of the House of Representatives has had a resolution to expel him from congress filed by other MAGA representatives from his own state?

P) Remember the statue of Robert E. Lee that was the focus of the riot in Charlottesville, Va. in 2017? What happened to it last week?

Q) In some really good news reported Thursday the economy registered a robust what percent annual growth rate last quarter?

R) What nickname did MAGA presidential leader Donald Trump immediately hang on the new Speaker of the House?

S) “Double, double toil and trouble” is the incantation spoken by a trio of witches in what well known play?

T) Finally we had a strike by what group in Iceland Tuesday for equal treatment including wages?

Deeply Christian Mike Johnson, 

willing to bear false witness 

if it means throwing out millions of American votes 

to help his actual savior, Donald Trump. – John Fugelsang

Answers:

A) Just under 32,000

B) Acapulco, Mexico. It was expected to be just a tropical storm but blew up into a category 5 hurricane

C) 3 hours – he was undone by a tweet from Trump because Emmer did not vote for Trump’s coup on Jan. 6, 2021.

D) Navigator pipeline

E) Tabitha!

F) Emmer had not voted to stop the electoral certification on January 6, 2021 – a vote against Trump. When Emmer was nominated Trump sent a tweet not to vote for him.

G) Mike Johnson of Louisiana

H) 2 – fines of $5000 and $10000.

I) Ivanka Trump

J) Sabrina the teen age witch

K) Ford

L) The girl in question was found safe early the next morning in Hammond, Indiana

M) Mark Meadows

N) Glinda was the good witch of the South

O) George Santos

P) it was melted into material that will be used in other art

Q) 4.9%

R) MAGA Mike

S) Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”

T) Women who went on strike in a continuing demand for equality – especially of pay.

The fact that Biden’s brother wrote Joe Biden a $200K check as a loan repayment does reveal one very telling thing. The Biden family pays back its debts. The Trumps file Chapter 11. – George Takei

Pro-Russia, anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-democracy. What a great choice for Speaker of the House! – Norman Ornstein

Posted in #trumpresistance, Humor | Comments Off on Sunday Funday: Happy Halloween Edition