Category: Update

79 Reasons To Smile

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79 Reasons To Smile

D. S. Mitchell

I posted a reminder yesterday that September is National Suicide Prevention Month and then today I posted a Remembrance of 9/11/01. I decided I needed to think of “Reasons To Smile.” Here we go with a new list of things that should bring a smile to your face.

1.)Theme parties 2.) Your daily horoscope 3.) An Amish buggy on a Pennsylvania country road 4.)Levi 501 button fly jeans 5.) A day hike 6.) Pumpkin soup 7.) Filmy, gauzy dresses blowing around tanned legs 8.) Sunglasses after dark 9.) Having to replay a voicemail more than twice to get the phone number right 10.) A B & B week-end 11.) An herb garden 12.) Holiday beer gardens 13.) A shady porch on a hot day 14.) A nice driver’s license photo 15.) Small airports 16.) A mailbox filled with donation requests 17.) The sound of a Texas fiddle 18.) Doves cooing 19.) Realizing you have just said something of merit or maybe, something truly brilliant 20.) Polished brass 21.) Having my own private office with lots of windows 22.) Staying focused 23.) Smiling so big your shoulders quake 24.) Souvenir t-shirts 25.) The little deli at the “Cove”  26.) Beach side living  27.) Air dried sheets 28.) Finding a friendly adversary on Twitter 29.) Cleaning out that junk drawer 30.) The crashing sound of the ocean 31.) Having that secret place to escape to 32.) “More isn’t always better” 33.) Drawing Smile Faces in the sand 34.) Trains 35.) Habitat For Humanity 36.) Homemade fudge with walnuts 37.) Plaid flannel shirts 38.) Frosted Margarita glasses their rims dusted with salt 39.) XXX’s OOO’s on a letter from Mom 40.) The seventh inning stretch 41.) Changing my hair color  42.) Brew pubs 43.) Bright, cold, autumn days 44.) That first cup of coffee 45.) The sound of a zipper going up or down 46.) Mornings on the boat 47.) Jumping over puddles and not getting your feet wet 48.) Park benches 49.) Candlelight 50.) Finger painting 51.) Sisters, OR 52.) Reading glasses slid to the end of my nose 53.) Cypress trees 54.) My quirky, oddball friends 55.) VIP seats  56.) “I love you” 57.) Having time to check my options 58.) Saturday Night Live with Alec Baldwin doing President Trump  59.) Australia’s Great Barrier Reef  60.) The Statue of Liberty 61.) After dinner walks 62.) Google Maps 63.) No one in the express lane 64.) Yesterday’s meatloaf in today’s sandwich 65.) Amazon 66.) Hugging Teddy after a really bad day 67.) Automatic garage door openers 68.) Hot air balloons over a New Mexico landscape. 69.) The sound of church bells 70.) Planting an avocado seed and watching it grow into a tree 71.) Losing ten pounds  72.) Quiet time 73.) Caramel apples 74.) Biking the prom 75.) Watching a Bumblebee kiss every flower in the garden 76.) Fall leaves gathered in large piles 77.) A thank you note written in calligraphy 78.) “A Separate Peace”  by John Knowles 79.) A really funny dirty joke

Well, I feel better now. Hope you do too. Keep smiling.

Calamity Politics intends to present relevant and topical information on the current U.S. political scene. We’ll be back with more from the swamp, join us for the remaining installments of “Trump:Behind The Curtain”.

Join the Resistance

Dar

Remembering 9/11-Sixteen Years Later

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Remembering 9/11, Sixteen Years Later

D. S. Mitchell

Thousands of victim relatives, survivors, rescuers and others gathered at the World Trade Center Memorial to commemorate the 16th anniversary of the terror attacks masterminded by Al Ouida and Osama Bin Laden that took the lives of 2,977 people and will be remembered as the worst terror attack on the U.S. homeland in history. Terrorists high jacked 4 commercial airliners, two of the planes crashed into the Twin Towers of The World Trade Center, New York City, N.Y., a third was directed at the Pentagon and the fourth was crashed into a rural field in Pennsylvania when passengers and crew fought the terrorists for control of the plane leading to it crashing before reaching its intended target, savings many lives.

Civil De-construction, One Tweet At A Time

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Civil De-Construction, One Tweet At A Time

D. S. Mitchell

On July 26, 2017 President Trump tweeted: “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States government will not accept or allow……”
That was the president of the United States starting his morning with an ominous tweet. Then for the next nine minutes there was no follow-up tweet. His audience (the world) was left to wonder what would follow those six dots. The reporters at Buzzfeed confirmed that Pentagon staffers and officials alike believed Trump was about to announce a strike against North Korea or another Afghan military strike.

After a mind bending nine minute wait, the president finally continued his tweet, “transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgenders in the military would entail.”

My first thoughts, 1) the tweet is both too organized and clearly written to have been originally authored by Trump, and instead, I suspect was the work of Steve Bannon or Stephen Miller. 2)  the writer acts as if transgender military service was not already a fact of life.  If this thoughtless tweeted policy is implemented, which I assume they will attempt, it will negatively affect an estimated 15,000 service personnel who openly identify as transgender.

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Vice President Doomed

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Vice President Doomed

D. S. Mitchell

In today’s (8-8-2017) New York Times, writer Frank Bruni had an excellent piece on the Vice President. I can’t reprint it here, but I decided I would paraphrase Bruni’s opinion piece.

According to Bruni Mike Pence was furious over recent reports by NY Times reporters, Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, that indicated Pence might be readying himself for a presidential run in 2020.

Problem 1) Trump is only six months into a four-year term. 2) Trump is vicious in attacks on anyone that might be putting their agenda ahead of his.

Pence felt endangered by the reporting and pushed back quickly and vigorously, with a red-faced proclamation of “disgraceful” assertions, never detailing exactly why the assertions were disgraceful. According to Bruni, the Vice President’s anger “reflects the inconvenient truths, it is overarching. It’s existential. On some level he (Pence) must realize that he’s in a no-win situation.  Without Trump he’s nothing. With Trump he’s on a runaway train that he can’t steer or brake. If it doesn’t crash, Trump can scream down the tracks straight through 2020. If it does, Pence will be one of the casualties.”

The question is why has Pence formed a political action committee, the only sitting vice president in history to do so? It could be that he is generating contributions to a legal defense fund, which is permissible under election laws.  The Russian conspiracy probe is broadening and Mike Pence is not as financially well off as the President and attorneys in such circumstances charge big bucks.

However, all those donations and bridge building efforts could also be a quiet effort to make himself a viable 2020 presidential candidate.  It seems unimaginable, but according Bruni, “there could be some imaginable future in which Trump falls and Pence is left to soldier on. But, mostly he is in denial , and he’s living very dangerously.”

The various scenarios of the future are mere speculation.  But, it is within the realm of possibility that Trump will self destruct-be impeached and run out of town-or throw a tantrum and stomp off on his own. Who the hell knows? Anything now seems possible. Bruni theorized that, “Pence indeed needs an infrastructure and a network of his own.”  But there is a rub to this, “there is no way to assemble those without looking disloyal to Trump and courting the wrath of alt-right types who know how to go on a Twitter jihad.”

Other possible primary challengers include a Ohio Governor, John Kasich and Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse.  These adversaries don’t owe Trump what Pence does. They didn’t pledge complete allegiance. Kasich started his unofficial campaign before Trump’s inauguration. He is free to raise money, hold news conferences, become a fixture on cable news and attack Trump’s proposals and his failures. When Kasich and Sasse go after the President the Trump base will react but they will not be targeted like Pence would be.

Pence is being squeezed into a box of “compulsory worship”. And despite his behind the scenes machinations, he has done a masterful job of appearing perfectly content” looking devoted, and damn near infatuated.

Before being tapped by Paul Manafort as Trump’s running mate Pence was losing popularity in Nebraska based on his performance as their governor.  Before accepting the role of Trump running mate Pence blasted Trump’s “travel ban” calling it “offensive and unconstitutional”. Pence advocated free trade and Trump’s protectionism was alien to Pence’s earlier stated trade stance. Pence claims to stand for “Christian values” and refuses to be alone with a woman other than his wife, yet he stands beaming next to an admitted gropper and female abuser. Mike Pence has even admitted feeling guilt over his past political behavior as a “negative campaigner” while he collaborates with the most corrupt and dirtiest politician in U.S. history. Pence seems to have given up his core values to stand next to such great power.

Bruni finishes his piece as follows, “No wonder he (Pence) wants and expects a reward as lavish as the White House itself: He sold his soul. but I don’t think he studies the contract closely enough and thought the whole thing through.  There’s no political afterlife in this equation, just the loopy, mortifying limbo where he and so many of Trump’s other acolytes dwell.  Maybe the howling is cathartic, but it won’t change a thing.”

Mike Pence has protested loudly that there is no 2020 presidential election run in his future.  I think he is right, but not because he doesn’t want to be president, but because he can’t afford to enrage Trump.

Calamity Politics publishes nearly everyday.

Join the Resistance

Dar

82 Reasons To Smile

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82 Reasons To Smile

D. S. Mitchell

Another perfectly silver day at the Oregon coast. There must be a million tourists in my little North Oregon hamlet, which makes getting on our main roadway, Hwy #101 a near impossibility. Friends are here from Portland for the week. It was 103 the other day and running high nineties for the last couple weeks in the city of bridges. Oregonians aren’t used to such high temperatures and they all run to the beach, especially if they have friends that live surf side.  Summers are fun and I enjoy the company.

On Sunday Calamity Politics abandons it usual political posts and focuses on things that make me smile. Today I decided that I needed at least 82 Reasons to Smile.  So, here we go:

1.) Philly Sandwiches   2.) Hugs   3.) The comfort of old friends   4.) A forest hike   5.) Thick wood planks that squeak with age   6.) Brand new business cards  7.) A full piggy bank  8.) Watermelon hearts  9.) Neutron stars  10.) Uncle Norman’s boathouse  11.) High school basketball games  12.) 1980’s rock  13.) A whitewashed fireplace  14.) Two in the shower  15.) Antique scrimshaw  16). Street musicians  17.) Looking through old picture albums  18.) YouTube  19.) The song of a Western Meadowlark 20.) Using the Internet to correct my spelling 21.) Miniature golf  22.) A perfectly executed omelet  23.) Historic Places  24.) Painted rocks left for tourists to find  25.) Food trucks  26.) Farmer’s Markets  27.) A Yo-yo  28.) Hand knitted slippers  29.) A sky full of multi-colored hot air balloons  30.) Making homemade sausage  31.) Antique airplanes 32.) Going fishing with Daddy  33.) Pitching a tent in the back yard  34.) Long afternoon shadows  35.) Patsy Cline  36.) The calls of migrating geese  37.) 20 questions on long car rides  38.) kids art on refrigerator doors  39.) Saturday Market, Portland, Oregon 40.) Full moon  41.) Coffee mug with my name on it  42.) Using the dog to clean up left overs 43.) A surprise party  44.) Harry O. the old television series with David Jansen  45.) Old trunks in dusty attics  46.) Thunder and lightening 47.) Poetry readings  48.) Root beer floats  49.) Starting a collection  50.) Embroidery on old jeans  51.) Turning off the phone  52.) Karaoke night  53.) Bottles of champagne chilling in buckets of ice  54.) Tooth fairies and Easter bunnies  55.) A good horoscope or fortune cookie  56.) A barge tour down the Seine River  57.) French doors to massive bedrooms  58.) Brass fire poles  59.) Playing strip poker  60.) Flowers floating on a pond  61.) Ferris wheels  62.) Re-upholstering dining room chair seats  63.) Old movie posters  64.) Sundance catalogues  65.) White daisies  66.) Caller ID  67.) Letters to the Editor  68.) A flattering driver’s license picture  69.) Being in a party mood  70.) Oversize sweaters and skin-tight jeans  71.) Panning for gold  72.) Lady bugs  73.) Disney movies 74.) Beer gardens  75.) Summer whites  76.) Kentucky Rain by Elvis Presley 77.) Being alone to dream and scheme  78.) Track meets  79.) Crashing waves  80.) Sea breezes  81.) Electric pencil sharpeners  82.) Riding my bike on the Prom

That’s it folks. Stop smiling and go to bed.

Join the Resistance

Dar

Thank You ADAPT And All The Resistance Protesters

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Thank You ADAPT And All The Resistance Protesters

D. S. Mitchell

I haven’t written much about health care for awhile, not because I haven’t had plenty to say, but there have been a lot of other people speaking up and saying it probably better than I could, so I let them take the lead. But, now after the Republican attack on health care has been stymied for a short time at least, I think it is time that we thank all the individuals and groups that came together to stop the Repeal and Replace train.

Who could ever forget the images of disabled protesters being pulled from their wheelchairs and zip tied and carted off to jail. Absolutely riveting. Horrific images that labeled the Republican lawmakers as heartless and unresponsive to the needs of the American public.

The protests by the grassroots disability rights organization ADAPT I think were what turned the tide in favor of the protesters. The ADAPT protesters set the stage for the subsequent heroic votes cast by three Republican Senators, John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.

In 1974 a non-disabled former nursing home recreational director and several disabled associates formed the Atlantis Community. The mission of the group was to assist disabled persons to escape institutionalization and live in the community at large. On 7/5/1978 a historic protest for wheelchair access to public buses was initiated by the group. The protest took place at a Denver intersection where protesters stopped buses and disabled individuals placed themselves in front and behind the buses and then others would leave their wheelchairs and dramatically crawl up the bus steps to bring attention to their plight.

In 1984 after several years of bus protests, as the group struggled to obtain wheel chair access lifts to Denver city buses, the campaign went national. ADAPT became the designated  arm of the Atlantis group to form protests and civil disobedience. ADAPT became the militant wing of the disability rights movement and is well known for its non-violent direct action with a mission to bring public awareness to the civil rights violations of the disabled.

The group has successfully used Twitter and Facebook to dramatize their issues. ADAPT strategies used so effectively in the health care fight include using civil disobedience as a tool to gain public attention to direct change in laws, policies and services affecting the disabled and those strategies were used effectively to bring attention to the drastic Medicaid cuts proposed under the TrumpCare plan.

Also important to note were the hundreds of thousands of people who marched, went to town halls, visited lawmakers offices, wrote letters, sent emails and faxes and called their congressional representatives. It was each of these people as individuals and as organized groups that stopped the Republicans from erasing health care for a projected 20-30 million people over the next decade.

Thank you. For whatever you did, large or small, your participation in the resistance changed the direction of this callous legislation.

Join the Resistance

Dar

Since When Do We Establish Policy Via Tweet?

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Since When Do We Establish Policy Via Tweet?

D. S. Mitchell

Trump gets an idea and decides to change carefully crafted government policy, and then throws it out via Twitter.  Since when should this be an okay thing? No plan, no developed policy, Trump just issues a “royal tweet,” as if it were a king’s decree.

Trump Tweets That Transgender Individuals Will Not Be Allowed To Serve In The U.S. Military

On Wednesday morning, apparently while he was in the can doing his morning dump, the President of the United States decided to announced his personal reversal of a carefully thought out Defense Department policy.  Trump assassinated the transgender military plan through a trio of early morning tweets.

“After consultation with my generals and military experts, please be advised that the U.S. government will not accept or allow–transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military.  Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming–victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgenders in the military would entail. Thank You.”

The declaration blindsided his Defense Secretary, James “Mad Dog” Mattis, who is currently on vacation. Apparently, on Tuesday Trump notified Mattis and other key officials he was moving toward such a decision and left it at that.  So, during his 6:00 a.m. dump, Trump decided there was no reason to wait–on the announcement, so he fired away, in more ways than one.

Outrage from nearly every corner slammed back at Trump.  Many pointing out that the military spends more on Viagra than transgender medication.  Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war hero (D. IL.) called out Trump publicly about his questionable deferments during the Vietnam war, and indicated his lack of service put him in an awkward position when making Tweet policy for the military. Another pundit asked why the government was spending 3.6 M on every Trump trip to Mar-a-Lago and was now worried about the very minimal cost of transgender medications. Others were asking if the several million dollars for transgender care of military personnel was being done in an effort to find more money for the “Trump Wall”?

Questions hammered the White House Press Secretary at a news briefing later Wednesday.  Sara Sanders announced that the White House and the Defense Department would be working to figure out logistics of how “to lawfully deal with transgender troops who are already serving in the military.”  Huckabee Sanders admitted that to her knowledge no new policy had been initiated and further, that no conversations have taken place, and none are currently underway to insure a smooth transition of Trump’s new tweeted policy. Really, absolutely amazing, and not in a good way.

A statement from the Pentagon indicated there would be no change to military policy at this time. A 2016 Pentagon study estimated 1,500 to 7,000 service personnel were openly serving as transgender individuals.  A public group put the number of transgender individuals serving in the U.S. military closer to 16,000.  The Human Rights Campaign calls the military the “largest employer of transgender people in America.”

Calamity Politics offers opinions, analysis, and speculations, in a mostly critical examination of the U.S. national political scene.

Join the Resistance

Dar

Natalia and Associates

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Calamity Politics is a progressive political blog. Our intention at CP.com is to present relevant, thought provoking articles about serious political issues that are confronting our country.

More Trump Russian scandal news keeps leaking out. It appears that the GOP candidate and his inner circle are intricately enmeshed with various Russian oligarchs and the Russian government. One of the major characters in this building drama is former Senator Jeff Sessions, Trump campaign surrogate and Trump appointee to the position of the highest law official in the United States, the Attorney General.

Mr. Sessions appeared at his confirmation to have developed a sudden onset of amnesia, totally forgetting 2 separate visits he had with then Russian Ambassador, Kisylak. When those meetings were disclosed by the press, Sessions went back and changed his statements, protecting himself from possible perjury charges.

In May of 2017 the U.S. Department of Justice quietly and abruptly settled a case against Prevezon Holdings. Prevezon is a Russian firm accused of laundering an estimated $230,000,000 dollars through Manhattan real estate purchases and sales. The case was about to go to trial when DOJ made Prevezon an offer they couldn’t refuse. DOJ headed by Attorney General Jefferson Sessions felt a fine of 6,000,000 was appropriate. The six million is far less than the case was expected to settle for. Furthermore, the Russian firm was not required to make any admissions of guilt.

Way back in May, the lawyer representing the family of Pyotr Katsyv, the former Vice Governor of the Moscow region, whose son Denis owns Prevezon was an unknown Russian lady lawyer named Natalia Veselnitskaya.

In a statement at the time of the settlement announcement, Veselnitskaya said the offer by Trump’s lying Attorney General was almost “like an apology from the United States government”.

As of July 9, 2017 anyone with ears or eyes knows who Natalia Veselnitskaya is. She is the “Russian government lawyer” whose meeting at Trump Tower with Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort as well as a former Russian intel officer who is now a U.S. citizen and registered lobbyist, and numerous other people, including a translator and a mysterious and rumored money laundering Russian real estate figure named Kaveladze.

This June 2016 meeting is the biggest political bombshell revelation in the quest to uncover any evidence of Trump Russia collusion in the 2016 presidential election. Hair raising information. This story is starting to burn very hot and the fire is getting closer to the Oval Office.

A group of Democrats in Congress are interested in the dealings the Trump campaign has had with the Russian government and they further are seeking information to learn if Veselnitskaya, the female attorney who came to Trump Tower a year ago described as “a Russian government lawyer” peddling dirt on Hillary Clinton, had any unethical connection with Jeff Sessions and the Trump administration that led to his decision to settle the lawsuit on terms so seemingly friendly to Prevezon.

The Prevezon case was being brought by Preet Bharara, the U.S  attorney for the Southern District of New York.  Mr Bharara was fired by President Trump after initially being asked to stay on post-inauguration. Bharara similar, to fired FBI Director James Comey,  has  stated that he was uncomfortable with personal overtures made by Donald Trump and surrogates.

The day prior to Bharara’s firing, Trump attempted to reach Mr. Bharara by phone and the prosecutor refused to speak to him or call him back, citing discomfort with Trump’s desire to ingratiate himself with a U.S. attorney.

Seventeen Democrats came together and sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions stating in part:”We write with some concern that the two events may be connected and that the DOJ may have settled the case at a loss to the United States in order to obscure underlying facts”

The lawmakers want to know if Natalia Veselnitskaya had any role in the Prevezon settlement talks, whether Sessions–who had been a Trump campaign advisor–knew of the 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, whether any Trump administration officials had contacted the DOJ about the case, and the Democratic lawmakers also asked for documents explaining the decision to abruptly settle a very strong case for a ridiculously low fine.  A soft settlement that none believe the Bulldog prosecutor Bharara would ever have settled for.  Suspiciously, the settlement was arranged within several weeks of Bharara’s firing.

The public rarely gets excited over dirty business dealings involving money laundering and a complex tax fraud scheme, but this “matter seems to intersect with too many key signposts of the burgeoning Trump-Russia scandal to ignore,” said Will Bunch in an article for Philly.com, which was one source used by Calamity Politics in the research for this post.

The early dishonesty by Sessions, regarding issues Russian,  is a broader *”mosaic of lies” that have permeated the Trump campaign and the subsequent Trump administration regarding their contacts with Russians.  The mounting number of secret contacts by Trump officials coming to light are making it increasingly difficult to believe those past and current dealings between the Trump campaign and their administration with the Russian government are honest and above board.

Sessions had by his own statement, recused himself from the Russian investigation and all things Russian.  However, there is no reason to believe that the disgraced Sessions recused himself from the Prevezon settlement, and as such the Prevezon settlement and Natalia Veselnitskaya have fallen into the growing abyss of the Russian-Trump conspiracy scandal.

I’m more and more convinced that these activities with the Russians originated in dirty money transactions and probable purchases/sales at Trump properties that were designed to launder ill gotten money out of Russia.  It is possible that there are salacious dossiers and ugly sex transactions by Trump, I have no problem believing that such information exists, unless of course it is boy-on-boy.  That dirty scenario would put an end to Trump. But, I think it all started because of money and Trump’s need to feed his hyper-expensive life style.

Donald Trump had tried to market everything from ties, to vodka, to steaks, to his name, and most of the ventures were a failure, most notably Trump University which got him in hot water with multiple states.  Several state AGs filed suit against Trump and his “scam” university.  The real estate business however, was tailor made for laundering large sums of money, millions and hundreds of millions of dollars per transaction.

So, in my view this is how it went down.  On one side you have an eager, not so law abiding guy who owes everybody in the world, and on the other side you have a group of foreign oligarchs bent on hiding skimmed money stolen from Russian sources. Such a perfect arrangement.  An evil marriage that has after a three decade plus relationship culminated in the installation of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States.

The information is being hemorrhaged out almost hourly.  It will take time but I believe that the disgusting relationship between Russia and all things Trump will be revealed. I’m not sure, but I believe that the greatest scandal in US history, involving possibly hundreds of individuals, is nothing more than a conspiracy to make more money.  You can never have too much money. Right?  I call it sick.  When money is more important that your  country, the sacredness of the vote, the near holiness of the U.S. Constitution you should be banished to that f’ing country you sold out to.

Explain to me why every American soldier serving this country doesn’t throw his gun down and demand an air line ticket home?  When you don’t know who your President is working with it’s time to cut the ties that bind. I will keep writing about the Russia scandal. It’s gonna be a rough ride. Join the Resistance.

Dar

Jason Chaffetz, Get Real

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Jason Chaffetz, Get Real

D. S. Mitchell

You’ve Seen Him

I know you’ve seen this guy. He was especially loud and intimidating during the Benghazi, hearings. It seemed his primary goal was to try to embarrass and de-legitimize Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Jason Chaffetz said he would continue the Hillary Clinton Benghazi investigation “even if she wins the White House.” Really? How long did he plan on holding hearings, another 8 years? Sick and twisted ideology.

Seven

Calamity Politics is a progressive political blog. I want you to know that I believe most of the Representatives and the Senators are hard-working folks. There are a handful that are just plain objectionable. Those few that I find really irritating are Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Jim Jordan, and Jason Chaffetz. Not in any particular order. Amazing, they are all Republicans. And quite honestly, I think the American political landscape would improve greatly if this seven guy team would find jobs outside the government. I know I would not mind clearing all seven of them off of the U.S. political news scene.

Lacks Understanding

Jason Chaffetz, Republican Congressman from Utah was making the political morning shows on 3/7/2017 when he showed, not only his lack of understanding of ‘living poor,’ but any basic human compassion.

Trump Care Plan

At first perusal, the new Trump Care Plan will give huge tax cuts to the richest Americans, while delivering a brutal blow to health care for lower-income Americans.  The Republicans are rushing this terrible bill through Congress.  Besides helping the wealthy, it reduces access for low-income and rural Americans to health care. It weakens Medicare, and guts Medicaid.  Furthermore, this bill is a direct attack on women’s access to reproductive health. The bill would de-fund Planned Parenthood, where over 50% of low-income women in the United States receive health care.

Feeling The Hate

Chaffetz told the CNN viewing audience that, “Americans have choices, and they’ve got to make a choice.  So, rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest in their own health care.” Wow! Utah’s Congressman seems to have no understanding of the cost of health care insurance and the equipment people need to get by in a modern society. Studies show that cell phones are the primary means of internet access for many lower-income citizens.  In a 2015 Pew study, at least 13% of Americans rely on their phone to connect to wi-fi.  Furthermore, the cell phone is a necessity for finding a job, and maintaining one.

Significant Expenses

According to Obama administration reports, only 77% of people currently enrolled in the ACA will be able to find a plan for less than $100 per month this year.  Nearly 30% of cell phone users have had financial issues significant enough that their phone service was either suspended or cancelled. On Fox, Chaffetz, rephrased his CNN remarks. “Maybe I didn’t say it as smoothly as I could, but people need to make a conscious choice and I believe in self-reliance.  And they’re going to have to make those decisions.”

Healthy And Wealthy

I get so mad when I hear mostly wealthy, healthy able-bodied men say such bull shit.  Your life changes with chronic illness, disease or disability. Life changes when you are paralyzed and can’t get out of bed without help, your life changes when you lose your job, your life changes when your mother is diagnosed with dementia, your life changes when you have a special needs child, your life changes when you are diagnosed with cancer.  Sadly, not everyone is young, able-bodied or wealthy.

A Slap To The Head Might Help

Would somebody please slap these people upside their heads.  This country has had the largest transfer of wealth in human history since the 1980’s.  Four hundred families control 90% of this country’s wealth. And inexplicably the Congress and the White House are falling all over themselves to give the wealthy an even bigger share of the pie. It seems the lawmakers can’t wait to cut up the 10% of the remaining wealth among their big donors.

Conclusion

Some people should keep their mouths shut. Jason Chaffetz you have no compassion or understanding of the plight of the poor. Please retire, and let the people of Utah find a man with heart to fill your vacated position.

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