Robbery of Biblical Proportions

If you believe the Donald about the 2017 Republican Plutocrat Giveaway, i.e., the "tax reform" bill, I got a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. Honestly, you don't need to be a news junkie to take just a minute to figure out this is another three-card Monte Carlo swindle brought to by Don, the King o' Con.

The "mainstream" Republicans (is there really such a thing - I mean, how different are they really from the tiki torch bearing goons who oozed onto the scene not long ago in Charlottesville?) are doing their best to hide the salami as they push through this tax cut, evading and avoiding any semblance of good governance and parliamentary best practice. It's another page out of the same playbook - look right into the cameras, make a soppy serious big boy face and look oh so sincere while they lie, lie and lie through their teeth about their faux concern for the middle class. And then, once everyone is sick and tired of trying to figure out the difference between truth and lie, bull rush through some cockamamie bill chock full of goodies for their Richie Rich benefactors and patrons.

All the while, they'll be a hopin' and a prayin' that the Donald doesn't screw the pooch with his usual act of megalomaniacal self-sabotage, shifting his position for the umpteenth time or just unloading with another bit of denigrating, norm-bustin' filth to satisfy his "people," aka, white folks.

So, look out, Gracie, here comes the Donald and his hard charging herd of mad elephants, out to grab your handbag and pound your pretty little head into the ground for a life filled with poverty and misery.

Holy Moses and the Burning...Tush?!

In the dumpster fire that is the current administration, there are no firemen or first responders of any kind. Instead, there are only arsonists, chief among whom is none other than the Donald. What's sad - so sad, sadder than we've ever seen before - has been the willingness of his Chief of Staff, John F. Kelley, to allow Trump to drag his name and well-earned reputation through the mud, all in the service of protecting the Big Pig himself. Trump and Kelly then tag-teamed to hurl insults at a Member of Congress while at the same time managing to rub salt in the very fresh wounds of a grieving gold star widow. Finally, to seal the deal Kelly sanctimoniously cloaked himself in his own tragic loss to protect himself from anyone daring to level criticism at him for his behavior.


The Trump Administration's aggressive enforcement of reckless impunity and pathological refusal to accept responsibility for its actions are so transparently obvious, and they occur so frequently it appears that nobody, including the feckless Democrats, is willing to remind that crew that they work for us, the American people. And by American people, I mean all of us, not just the knuckleheads who couldn't get past their sense of righteous, white supremacist indignation to vote for Trump.

At this rate, after a full four years of this "Trumpster fire" of an administration, we'll all be left just holding our ashes.

Breaking Baddest, Badder Than The World Has Ever Known

Did anyone catch 60 Minutes last night? It exposed collusion between Drug Distributors the federal government (both Congress and the Obama and Trump administrations) in tamping down and finally snuffing out the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency for non-wonks) efforts to clamp down on illegal opioid marketing, distribution and sales. Fortunately, never fear, the Trump administration is on it, and I mean all over it.

Here's what Trump & Co. have done so far to combat an epidemic that has taken the lives of nearly 200,000 souls since 1999...64,000 alone in 2016...

...wait for it...





...still waiting? Please continue to hold...


It has yet to declare the opioid epidemic a national emergency.

I guess we can all heave a collective sigh of relief. And while we're still waiting for them to extract their heads from the tuchises, we can always enjoy a little humor. I like the idea of Trump, who wouldn't so much as give someone a tissue if they sneezed (instead, he'd quickly spritz himself in anti-bacterial sanitizer), leading efforts to roll back one of this country's major public health crises. As with other major policy challenges, he more likely to be a part of the problem than the solution. Or as Bryan Cranston's Walter White would say, "He IS the danger. HE is the one who knocks."

Dr. Strangetrump

The Doctor is IN!!!

Talk about soul surgery. This is soul-sucking surgery, with the good Dr. Donald J. Trump attending as chief surgeon. He's going to make you feel so good, so healthy, so wealthy, you'll be tired of living so much. And good thing, too, because once he's successfully completed his sabotage of our health care system, tax code...plus environmental regulations, worker safety rules, democratic norms, the Constitution, relationships with our closest allies, our national defense, social safety net, and..(wait, what have I forgotten anything) you'll want to pinch yourself...and then put a bullet in your head.

Anyway, we'll all finally be the winners he promised us we'd all be. And life will be AWE-some, so very awesome, like we've never seen such AWE-someness before...

[We pause for a moment while the blogger/cartoonist rushes to the nearest sink to lose his breakfast.]

Meanwhile, the vast majority of Republicans are all holding their breath that Trump manages to actually pull off all of this national self-destruction, which has been the Republican Party policy agenda for the past 30 years running, before he finally pisses off Kim Jong-Un (or some other nuclear-armed crackpot) so much that country actually does get obliterated. Good those elephant men (and they are mostly men) have the country's best interest at heart.

And, no, Democrat jackasses don't get off the hook so easy. They're too busy twiddling their thumbs, trying to figure out how to lure back the love of their political lives: the  working class white man. Never mind that it's not the economy, stupid; it's all about race, racism and white entitlement. Always was, always has been, and most likely always will be until the Democrats stop talking out of both sides of their mealy mouths. They should all be required to sit down and read Ta Nehisi Coates' recent piece in the Atlantic. Maybe then they can get serious about offering policies that are genuinely inclusive and just for all people of all colors, creed, ethnicity and gender.

Meanwhile, I guess we can just hold our breath and pray that we can make it through the day.

"I did not and will not exhale..."

Priceless

There are several very good articles out there that provide some basic inventories of the Trump administration's corruption. David Leonhardt had a good one in the NY Times. But today's editorial included a much more comprehensive one. Both are disheartening; both remind you of just how much Trump and his cronies have turned a reptile-infested swamp into an even more sordid bordello, also infested by reptiles and various verminous beasts.

Here's my own admittedly incomplete illustrated list of corrupt practises that Trump & Co. have engaged in, all with a healthy, heaping helping of white entitlement, arrogance and presumed impunity. At least Price was shown the door, but he's only the tip of the stinkin', reekin' heap of horse pucky that passes for "governance" under the current regime. That's why I'm grudgingly willing to give outgoing Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) some props for calling out the potential risks to the world if we let Trump & Co. continue with her their dumpster fire o' chaos and destruction. I'll even show a little love to John "Pinky" McCain (R-AZ), although for the life of me I don't know why they needed to wait for so bloody long. I'm hoping this is the beginning of the end of Republican conspiracy of dunces. Hope you're enjoying your Indigenous People's Day.