Eschaton

Monday, March 13, 2017

No Class

I don't care if Trump donates his salary. The whole thing is stupid. But much like lying about donating money to Veterans and pocketing the money, this is the kind of venality which shows a man who isn't just an asshole but is unaware of how to even pretend to not be an asshole. You know, all the rich people you want to impress would be impressed by this stuff if you could get away with it and tell them about it on the golf course, but they aren't impressed with it if you get caught in public. Which you will. And it will make you, and your friends, look like the horrible assholes that you all are.

MSNBC requested details and documentation about any salary donations from the White House, the Treasury Department and the Office of Personnel Management, which all declined to say whether Trump has donated any of his salary to date. (OPM referred questions to the White House.)

Last month, White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders told the website Politifact that Trump "will be giving" his salary "back to Treasury or donating." The site noted the White House "declined to answer several inquiries into whether Trump has gotten a paycheck already."

Donate the salary and then take the money from some other pocket of change. Everyone expects you to be an asshole, and some even cheer it, they just expect you to do it with a bit more class.

Cuomo 2020

Can't wait to vote for this guy.

Mr. Bharara’s investigation clearly stuck with Mr. Cuomo as well. In the lead-up to Mr. Trump’s inauguration, Mr. Cuomo, who has done little to hide his frustration with Mr. Bharara, told a Trump adviser in passing that the prosecutor was “a bad guy,” saying, “Preet is not your friend,” according to a person familiar with the discussion. (A Cuomo spokeswoman denied that the governor had made such a statement.)

Sunday, March 12, 2017

36

The Most Serene Republic - The Men Who Live Upstairs

Sunday Cat Blogging

The World's Worst Humans

Tesco chairman John Allan.

Cold Takes

Perhaps they'll be hotter tomorrow!!

Afternoon Thread

I get the corruption and the MINEMINEMINE selfishness, but I admit I don't get the pure cruelty for cruelty's sake. I mean, it's one thing to not think you should have to pay to keep the poors alive, it's another to actively root for them to die.

Medical Privacy

This type of thing is not that horrible (not saying it's good, either) in a world where you don't have to worry about whether or not you can afford health insurance/care. Birth as a pre-existing condition and lifetime insurance caps are the Republican's death panel.

Employers could impose hefty penalties on employees who decline to participate in genetic testing as part of workplace wellness programs if a bill approved by a U.S. House committee this week becomes law.

"Bush Sucks" Was Not Enough Until It Was Really Sucky

I used to joke that this blog was easy during the Bush years because I just spent the whole time finding new ways to write "Bush Sucks" over and over again. That wasn't really true, though. Much of the energy of this blog, for what it was worth, was directed at making the Democrats suck less. "Not quite as evil as the other guys" and "we'll do war but better" and "vote for me, this smiling face, but I won't mention what party I belong to on my website" didn't work so well. Yes the Dems won in 2006 without ever quite changing their message or strategy much, but in 2006 things *really sucked.* Rahm Emanuel took all the credit for the 2006 victory, of course, but it was the crazy netroots that had planted a bunch of money for winning candidates in that wave election. Rahm's pets didn't actually do all that well, even in a wave election. The point isn't that "netroots" candidates always did super well - focusing on overlooked candidates in ignored districts is no guarantee of success, obviously - but that the powers that be candidates that ate up all the money didn't do super well, either.

The good news is Democrats are now willing to say "Trump sucks." It was a challenge to get them that far (Bush sucks, Republicans suck) in 2006, when things really sucked. But it wasn't enough to win until things really sucked.

"Trump is doing all of these horrible things" won't be enough, either, unless things really start to suck. "Vote for us, and we'll _______" needs to have something in that blank.

The Only Important Question of the Day

Is how long will it take me to figure out how to change the clock on my oven?

Morning Thready Goodness

Great Brief and Mundane History of Being a Woman at the Halifax Examiner. One of those pieces that hits home for 50+% of the population.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

37

Bishop Allen - Click Click Click

Fat Cats Thread

The New York Times:

Two of the biggest tax cuts in Republican proposals to repeal the Affordable Care Act would deliver roughly $157 billion over the coming decade to those with incomes of $1 million or more, according to a congressional analysis.
The assessment was made by the Joint Committee on Taxation, a nonpartisan panel that provides research on tax issues.
It is not unusual for tax cuts to benefit mostly the wealthiest, but still save some money for a majority of Americans. But the benefits of these reductions would be aimed squarely at the top.

And that is, of course, the real reason why the Affordable Care Act must be repealed.

PS He is not fat. Just very very relaxed.

Just Ask For All The Money

As I've said before (I blog every damn day, I've said everything before), Big Business opposition to doing anything about global climate change is just tribal asshole insanity. If they have the political power to stop climate change action and (Lord help us) the political power to get decades of subsidies to drill oil and destroy the planet, they have the political power to get us to pay them not to do these things.

It would be easy if it was just about the money. It isn't. Some people like to destroy the world.

By AARP's estimate, a 64-yr-old making $15K would pay $8,400 more for coverage under Ryan bill. Not a typo. Well over half of annual income.
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) March 10, 2017

Which is not all that alarming an example because this is someone who's just a year away from Medicare anyway. https://t.co/EwHnvbJH3i
— Charles Lane (@ChuckLane1) March 10, 2017

Just gotta hold on for one more year with that cancer eating away at you...