Open Thread Dec. 24: Whiter Christmas
The worst part of the Democratic Party’s embrace of neoliberal elitism is that it has led to a party run by hack middle-management types without a creative bone in their heads. Consider their chicken-livered response to the GOP’s need for Democratic votes to keep the government open over the holidays. After weeks of talk about using this a as a lever to help Dreamers, Our Leaders instead folded faster than a beach chair in a trash compactor, making clear that you can’t spell “leadership” with a group of people too timid to risk buying a vowel.
Luckily for us, their Republican opponents are so stupid they can’t figure out which part of the toilet to piss in. Because Trump’s priority is whatever the last Fox News guest said it should be, he made a big point of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital just in time for the holiday season — which had the effect of destroying Christmas tourism in the little town of Bethlehem.
On the other hand, the day-to-day chaos and incompetence are taking a toll on government employees. The drumbeat of dunderheadedness has deputy FBI chief Andrew McCabe eyeing the exits. An exodus that dwarfs the Hebrews departing Egypt is expected after Jan. 1.
Speaking of which, the year-end roundups compiled by reporters who wanted off during the holidays are starting to run. For a look ahead at far-reaching effect Trump will have on the nation — tax cuts are temporary, but incompetent jurists are forever — check out this Guardian piece. Consider that a trigger warning.
Now off to help with tonight’s meal. Those smelts won’t fry themselves.
I’m now 100% convinced that the day-to-day chaos and incompetence is by design. A hollowed out government is a much easier government for an authoritarian to take over.
Happy Holiday to all, and to all a good night!
Found this interesting poll. Americans find Donald Trump to be horrible. But as of September of this year, the person Americans continued to think was more horrible than Trump is Hillary Clinton. Sort of puts the last election into perspective. Hillary was the reason why she lost the election. Her and all those who supported her during the primaries.
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-not-popular-hillary-clinton-even-worse-approval-rating-polls-661070?amp=1
I had said, several times, that the GOP had sixteen fine candidates who could have defeated Hillary Clinton, but we went ahead and nominated the seventeenth, who couldn’t. I was as surprised as anybody else when Donald Trump defeated Mrs Clinton.
The Washington Post had an article yesterday on the Obama Administration’s concern that the Russians were using fake websites and other things to try to influence American elections, but did nothing about it, because internal debate on what could and could not be done never reached a conclusion. I’d guess that part of the problem stems from the fact that Mrs Clinton’s victory was virtually guaranteed anyway.
On the 22nd, The Washington Post had an article entitled “What’s wrong with white women voters? Here’s the problem with that question.” The problem is that while the political elites do not assume that all men are a brotherhood simply because all men have a penis — the left quickly segregate men into different groups: whites, blacks, heterosexual or homosexual, married or single, urban or rural, Hispanic, Christian, Muslim, just a whole host of different ‘special interest’ groups — they somehow did assume that all women were a sisterhood, just because they all have a vagina.
Then, when 57% of white women voters voted for someone other than Mrs Clinton, the left were shocked that so many had betrayed the sisterhood.
@Dana: What you describe is why there is a split in the Democratic Party. I would not trade those problems for the problems facing the Republicans.
What problems do Republicans face, Alby? Republicans achieved unanimity on the tax bill — even though I opposed it — and all of a sudden President Trump is having a list of successes that the GOP like.
Yeah, he’s an [insert slang term for the rectum here], but a lot of Republicans wanted an [insert slang term for the rectum here] in the White House, someone who would do what he promised to do, rather than ‘elite’ his way around them. The things the left hate, like moving our embassy to Jerusalem, like tax cuts, like reduced regulations, like opening ANWR to oil drilling, like repealing the ACA individual mandate, like challenging the left aggressively, like getting conservative jurists nominated and confirmed, he has gotten done. It hasn’t gone perfectly, but things are turning out better for conservatives than a lot of people had expected.
Politics is very much about winning, and thus far, President Trump has been winning.
Republicans face the problem all dictatorships based on personal loyalty do: No rule of succession. The entire party took Russian money — that’s the whole point of the Mueller probe — and it will remain true whether or not the probe is disabled. Good luck recovering from that.
Meanwhile, “conservatives” haven’t “won” anything. Opening ANWR to drilling gets them — what? Repealing the mandate, which makes up 3% of ACA revenue, gets them — what? Putting incompetent judges on the federal bench wins them — what? The problem with your movement is that beyond pissing off the people who know more than they do, it accomplishes nothing for the people who put these “conservatives” (actually just thieves) in office.
So an oil company makes more money in Alaska. That helps how? So young people go back to getting uncompensated care in emergency rooms — that helps how? Forcing pregnant women to bear children whether they want them or not — that helps how?
Don’t bother to answer; they’re rhetorical questions.
I wouldn’t want the Republicans’ problems facing the backlash of the majority — remember, this government was set up to reflect majority will — against this government of, by and for a minority. It will be hard and ugly.
Republicans, yourself perhaps an exception, have proved themselves incapable of even understanding the point of self-government. That’s not a problem I’d willingly take on.
You know the funniest part of your white-supremacy-loving fellow party members? Nazis despised Russians. They considered Russians sub-human, and our neo-Nazis are so stupid they don’t know the difference between them.
But then this has always been the MO of the “white” “race” — they have to continually bring in reinforcements (Irish, Polish, Italian, etc.) because otherwise the “whites” would go the way of the Shakers.
Nah ha~!
“So young people go back to getting uncompensated care in emergency rooms”
Just happen to run across a couple of recent studies that discuss the above.
An Oregon study found that having Medicaid increases emergency room visits (http://news.mit.edu/2013/study-having-medicaid-increases-emergency-room-visits)
Another study at Harvard found that high deductible health care plans are linked to fewer emergency rooms visits, concluding that “Patients went to the emergency room less frequently for non-emergency conditions.” https://hms.harvard.edu/news/high-deductible-health-plans-linked-fewer-emergency-room-visits-3-14-07
That would seem to indicate that when covered by health insurance, people tend to use the emergency room for much more than emergency service. It may be that there is a lack of providers who accept Medicaid, as well as people tend to be more frugal when they are paying the tab. I would have thought the plethora of doc in a box establishments would mitigate emergency room use. Maybe Oregon doesn’t do much doc in a box.
Anyway I suppose any comprehensive analysis and action regarding healthcare is merely a pipedream because drug companies and others have to lose if costs were contained in any worthwhile manner.
Still one of my arguments for a mandate is that it would support hospital cost reduction. That may not be the case in light of these studies.
“Politics is very much about winning, and thus far, President Trump has been winning.”
Yep and unless there is a major misstep or an indictment, he appears to be in a very favorable position for 2020. Democrats would have to field some sort of unity candidate to compete. Unfortunately, this and other sites are a testament to the fact that the only unifying principle for Democrats is their common battle cry “My way or the highway”! While it is true that you must stand for something. It is just as true that it needs to be something around which people will coalesce.
@Dave: The problem with uninsured patients receiving treatment in emergency rooms isn’t how often they use it, it’s that the hospital is uncompensated so the costs are passed along to the rest of us in various forms. The problem from a cost-control standpoint is that every time money changes hands a handling cost (and profit) are added. The public, whether through taxes or insurance premiums, pays not only the actual cost but everybody’s slice of handling charges as well. My ultimate goal isn’t to lower the hospital’s costs but overall costs.
Please note that I talked about young people, who are the ones most adversely affected by the mandates and are the ones most likely to forego insurance by choice rather than necessity. They aren’t likely to use the emergency room for non-emergencies. They are instead more likely to use it only when critically injured or critically ill, when the unpaid bills are five, six or seven figures.
As for your point to Dana, the only Democrat Trump compares favorably to is Hillary Clinton, which is why the right keeps her in the spotlight as much as possible.