WHAT IS WHAT FRESH HELL IS THIS MONDAY? I've decided to make Monday the day we talk about politics. As every day brings new fresh Hell, I am going to put all of them that I can (huge breaking stories aside) on Monday so we can get it out of the way. So let's get started!
ANDREW YANG'S INCOME PLAN IS A REHASH FROM THE 1930s This author has written a book about the history of guaranteed income programs, which always seem to pop up when big changes (in 1930 it was automation and now it's robots) occur that make people uncertain of their immediate futures. What's interesting is that even if Yang's plan is a non starter it could have an impact on other policies and actually end up with more welfare spending than we have now. Super. There is no excuse for this kind of talk when the economy is booming.
MAYOR PETE IS ON THE RISE! Both he and Amy Klobuchar saw a bump after their pragmatic performances at the last debate. Although Mayor Pete has a LOT more money, his age and gayness could be a problem in the long run. I happen to think it's his age of 37 that is the bigger hurdle. And the fact he's only run a city of 100,000 people up until now. But I will no longer dismiss him as annoying scold. Until he is one.
LIZ WARREN IS PROMISING TO SAY HOW SHE'S GOING TO PAY FOR MEDICARE FOR ALL And I'll believe it when I see it but it is getting ridiculous with her not admitting what we all know to be true, which is she's going to have to raise taxes on the middle class to do it. She says she's been working on the "how to pay for it" for "months and months" and it's almost ready. Mmmkay.
TRUMP SUPPORTERS ARE QUIET BUT THEY AREN'T LEAVING THEIR GUY At least in one Ohio county which voted overwhelmingly for Trump in the last election. This column provides a peek into why it may seem like Trump is on the ropes when he may not be. People just don't want to be bothered by the hatred and nastiness of the hard core Left so they are keeping their comments to themselves. Could this spell further trouble for polling? I sure hope so.
ROMNEY SAYS HE MAY VOTE TO REMOVE TRUMP And this is entirely unsurprising whether you like Romney or not. Trump supporters are calling him a weasel for saying he may vote to impeach, but I happen to think Romney is a guy of principle and he is genuinely disgusted by Trump's actions as President and a human being. But he is also being a weasel when it comes to party politics. Personally I'd rather have a guy who believes principles matter, but I hope he treats Trump fairly in an impeachment trial. We shall see.
TRUMP CAVES ON HOSTING THE G7 AT DORAL WHEN REPUBLICANS RAN OUT OF WAYS TO DEFEND HIM I think President Trump does some things JUST to poke the bear. He LOVES sending his opponents into a tizzy. I think that is why he announced they would host the G7 summit at one of his properties in Miami. What he can't control though is the tolerance of OTHER people who he needs on his team. From the Washington Post:
But behind closed doors, several aides and allies said, Trump changed his mind in response to pressure and frustration from his own party.
In the month since Democrats announced their impeachment inquiry, Republicans have struggled to offer a coherent response. With no White House war room, GOP lawmakers have seized on process-related responses.
At the same time, they’re being asked to defend the president’s erratic approach to policy making, including his abrupt decision to withdraw U.S. troops and abandon Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria. That announcement was roundly condemned by Republicans, including some of his staunchest defenders. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), in a rare public rebuke of Trump, wrote a withering op-ed in The Washington Post on Friday, just days after 129 House Republicans backed a resolution criticizing the president’s move.
Trump’s decision to host next year’s G-7 meeting at his private golf club only increased the anxiety among GOP lawmakers, some of whom have grown weary of having to develop new talking points almost daily.
Privately, and occasionally in public, several Republicans said they were not prepared to defend the president from charges that he was engaged in self-dealing on the G-7 site selection.
And so the G7 will take place somewhere else. As it should, frankly.
TRUMP IS FAR OUTPACING OBAMA WHEN IT COMES TO EXECUTIVE ORDERS And for the same reasons Obama said he did, he has a Congress that won't do what he wants them to do.
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YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT TRAVEL HACKING And this video can help. I do many of these things and they work!
ZERO TOLERANCE ON THE N-WORD HAS GONE TOO FAR Because a black school guard was FIRED after using the word to tell a student NOT TO CALL him that word. Seriously, we've gone insane.
COULD MILEY CYRUS BE TELLING US SOMETHING USEFUL HERE? We all know that the GO GIRLS movement has been going full steam for years, many times at the expense of men and boys, but I've not seen it explained so clearly as I have by notoriously unstable star Miley Cyrus. She said this in an Instagram post:
"I know," Cyrus said. "I always thought I had to be gay 'cause I just thought, like, all guys were evil, but it’s not true. There are good people out there that just happen to have (penises). I’ve only ever met one... and he’s on this Live."
Is this what we're doing to our girls? Good grief we are doing a terrible job.
THE COMING END OF CHRISTIAN AMERICA I feel like we've been talking a lot about religion in America lately, and this article makes the case that we pretty much need to get over it.
WHAT HAPPENS IN SYRIA REALLY ISN'T OUR CONCERN And before you get all But, But on me, read this. And then repeat after me: Syria is none of our business.
WE ALL THINK GOVERNMENT SUCKS Okay, maybe not ALL of us, but enough so we view it as the top problem facing the nation right now. I tend to agree, of course. More importantly to point out, it FAR outweighs any of the dumb crap politicians are arguing about now. But don't expect them to change because why should they?
DID SHE GET FIRED FOR NOT AGREEING WITH CLIMATE CHANGE DOGMA? Or in this case maybe it should be called "bearma"? A woman who studies polar bear populations and has come out strongly against the notion that climate change is killing polar bears has not had her adjunct professor position renewed. And the University of Victoria is not saying why, but they say that has NOTHING to do with it. Uh-huh. Read it here.
AND NOW, PRISON TATTS AND STUFF
THE HONORABLE MR. ROBOTO? could we get to a place where justice is adjudicated by robots? It sounds crazy...but is it? Taking emotion out of the equation could mean better justice.
CANADIANS ARE STANDING UP AGAINST...SELF CHECKOUT Those nutty Canucks are fighting back against self checkout stations because they say it will cost jobs. They are right. So from now on when some idiot puts my bread in with my soup I have have no one to blame but myself. Literally.