Month: July 2017

Washingtonpost.com:

Republican female senators whose disapproval of the GOP health-care effort has at times endangered its progress are facing an increasingly pointed backlash from men in their party, including a handful of comments that invoked physical retaliation.

In the past week, Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) has been challenged by a male lawmaker to a duel. She and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) were told that they and others deserve a physical reprimand for their decisions not to support Republican health-care proposals. Murkowski, who voted with Collins against starting the health-care debate this week, was specifically called out by President Trump on Twitter and told by a Cabinet official that Alaska could suffer for her choice, according to a colleague.

The language of retribution increasingly adopted by Republican men reflects Trump’s influence and underscores the challenges GOP women can face when opposing the consensus of their party, which remains dominated by men, outside experts said. A videotape of Trump surfaced during the campaign revealing him bragging in vulgar terms about groping women, and some believed that opened the gates for further insults and degrading behavior toward women.

This is the year 2017.   This crap will not stand.  Men who threaten women will lose their jobs.  They might not lose their jobs instantly but those who threaten will absolutely not be able to outrun their errors.  The good old boy network is no longer cool and it will no longer exclude others.

It’s just time for  many folks to clean up their acts.  Let’s start with new kid on the block  Anthony Scaramucci.  Scaramucci threatened Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon in the foulest and most vulgar terms.  In the first place, this thug isn’t even on the payroll yet.  However, that hasn’t stopped him from threatening those two and others in the White House with firing.  I don’t care how people talk in private.  I have been known to have a few salty sailor-like traits myself…however, Scaramucci is a public figure.  He represents the office of the President of the United States.  He needs to use civil language.  It’s one thing to slip.  It’s another thing to speak of others like he did.  This was no “hot mike.”  It was just being an intimidating pig.  .

Trump should fire him.  But he won’t.  Trump has no judgement and is probably enjoying the commotion.  It takes the laser beam off Trump’s illegal and traitorous behavior.

Meanwhile, the female senators need to stand their ground and not give way to the class jerks in the room.  They need to identify anyone who threatens them so that we can track those men and put them out of office.

Most people who know me know that I will rise up on my haunches over people I feel have been wronged or who have been mischaracterized.  Such was the case with Betty Dean, upcoming president of the local Chamber of Commerce.  The ad hominem attack on her on the Sheriff of Nottingham in Prince William County needed to be answered, so up on my haunches I stood.

This morning I attempted to make a comment regarding Betty Dean over some strong character assassinations by the folks over at the Sheriff of Nottingham in Prince William County.  Oddly enough, my comment was not posted, (as of 4 pm) even though other comments have been posted since.   Perhaps it’s because unlike most of the contributors there, I signed it “Moon-Howler.”  I would have signed it Betsie but no one would have known who made the comment.  Perhaps if I had hidden behind “Anonymous” it would have been posted.

I have no choice but to surmise my comment was not welcome there.  I think it was an important comment so I will post it here.  I consider Ms. Dean a friend and friends don’t let others talk smack about their friends.   Here was what I attempted to post:

I believe the Sheriff takes quite a bit on himself assuming he knows how Ms. Dean feels about the litany of groups you have attached to her name.

Did you contact Ms. Dean and interview her for this “article” or did you just ASS.u.me?

I consider Betty Dean a personal friend. I have never heard her mention most of the organizations you say she is an ardent supporter of. Hell, I only support 2 of them–Planned Parenthood and Emily’s list. I would say that Ms. Dean probably leans more towards local organizations that help other people or at least that has been my experience with her.

If I were going to censor someone, it wouldn’t be someone who buys “ink” by the barrel.

UPDATE:  I was notified that the Sheriff has now included  this entire post on his blog.   I thanked him.

Manassaspatch.com:

WASHINGTON, DC — A GOP congressman raised some eyebrows at a recent hearing on Capitol Hill when he asked NASA officials about the possibility of an intelligent alien civilization on Mars just a few thousand years ago.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California who has been in the news recently for his ties to the Russian government and some inflammatory comments, asked a panel of NASA experts testifying before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology about the possibility of intelligent Martians living not long ago on the Red Planet. The video of the exchange is embedded below.

“You have indicated that Mars had, was totally different thousands of years ago. Is it possible that there was a civilization on Mars thousands of years ago?” Rohrabacher asked.

Kenneth Farley, who is a project scientist with the NASA Mars Rover 2020 mission, replied that in fact Mars would have been significantly different billions, not thousands, of years ago, and that there is absolutely no evidence that any intelligent life ever existed there.

Rohrabacher pressed Farley, asking him if he would rule it out.

“I would say that is extremely unlikely,” Farley responded.

While scientists are vigorously studying Mars for signs of ancient life, they are looking for very basic microbial life, not for human-like aliens.

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Washingtonpost.com:

By any measure, the collapse of the Senate health-care bill represents an epic failure for the Republican Party and a major embarrassment for President Trump. The crusade that animated — and bound — conservatives for seven years proved to be a mirage, an objective without a solution. Power comes with consequences.

There is no way to spin to those who were promised that the Affordable Care Act would be repealed and replaced once Republicans held full power in Washington that what has happened is the fault of forces outside the party. This has been a GOP undertaking from start to finish. It is as though Republicans unknowingly set a trap and then walked into it without having prepared escape routes.

What price, if any, Republicans will pay for this setback will be revealed over the coming months. Perhaps they will be able to move quickly on other priorities — a tax bill being the most appealing now, although not necessarily a slam dunk — and wash away the bitter taste of the health-care debate. That might be the best they can hope for, but there are no guarantees.

The failed promise to repeal and replace Obamacare surely will affect the mood and enthusiasm of the Republican base heading toward 2018. When the Gallup organization asked Americans about the future of the Affordable Care Act recently, 30 percent overall said they favored “repeal and replace,” but 70 percent of Republicans supported that option. GOP lawmakers will have left them empty-handed, perhaps disillusioned. That will energize Democrats even more in their quest to take control of the House in 2018.

The health care bill was doomed from the start.  Replacing a flawed plan with an even worse one just isn’t going to please anyone. That new bill that just went died an embarrassingly painful death sounded awful to almost everyone. The really stupid part is that it hurt the Trump base the most.

What does it tell us when the Republicans own the White House and both the House and the Senate and they still can’t get a bill passed?  Trump wants to blame the Democrats.  Well, math must not be his forte.  Maybe the problem lies with the quality of health care the Republicans were proposing.

Here’s a novel idea–keep what’s good about Obamacare and fix the bad parts.  Maybe the idea of repealing the whole thing was repugnant to too many Americans.  Maybe Democrats and Republicans have to work together and push politics aside.

Finally!  A new open thread!  Nothing much to say except HEAT WAVE!!!