Tag: Democrats

What Of The Democrats?

Another day of doctors and such….I will not be around for most of the day and I shall try to catch up as soon as possible….thanx for understanding.

College of Political Knowledge

This is part of the series I write looking at the Democratic Party and the upcoming election.

After the ass kicking the Dems took in 2024 they set about to change the way they approach elections (that was the lie they told then)….I wrote about it so I went back into my archives (that is why I have them) and found what I had written then….this from about a year ago….

What Happened To The Democratic Party?

After a year of lip service and lies things are not going well….so far all they have done is theatrics for the media and accomplished very little….some Dems have even sided with the GOP on some spending bills…..not much has changed….

Recent polls show approval of Donald Trump hovering in a deep unlit trough around 40 percent. Yet his dismal ratings have done little to bolster the reputation of the opposition party. Commentators across the political spectrum have overwhelmingly agreed that the Democratic brand is shot. The American Prospect called it “damaged.” NBC said it was “weak.” Rolling Stone said it was “cooked.” Semafor announced that “left-wing ideas” had “wrecked” it, and Bill Maher compared Democrats to has-been companies like Sears or Kodak that had “screwed themselves out of relevance.” The pejoratives aren’t confined to the armchair critics. Arizona Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego lamented, with only slightly more finesse than the news outlets, the “national brand problem.” Michael Bennet, a Democratic senator from Colorado, delicately agreed that the branding is “problematic.”

Is all lost for the Democrats, or is there opportunity in the shambles? When the only party offering a bulwark against Trump’s murderous, crackpot regime appears to be losing the vibes war—and as we approach the midterm elections that offer our last best chance to rein in the madness—these questions are not merely of political interest; they are a matter of existential importance.

And so, in a survey of 2,421 Democratic voters, conducted January 7–16 by Embold Research, The New Republic sought to explore what rank-and-file Democrats want to see from their candidates and elected representatives. Is it true, as one popular strain of criticism goes, that some of the party’s more liberal social ideas are a liability? How important to voters are housing, prescription drug prices, trans rights? How should we approach economic policy, foreign policy? How conciliatory or aggressive should party leaders be toward their foes? What, in other words, do Democrats want from Democrats?

https://newrepublic.com/article/206015/new-republic-opinion-poll-democrats-leaders-results

Not much is changing because the Dems are still in corporate pockets….the people mean nothing to these politicians no matter how much manure they spread none of it is true.

The Centrists are leading the way…..

Centrist Democrats led by Cheri Bustos, a corporate lobbyist who previously headed her party’s campaign arm in the US House, are launching a policy and advocacy organization aimed at pressuring Democrats to embrace the kind of “pro-growth” deregulatory agenda associated with the so-called “abundance” movement.

The new organization, named Next American Era, was formed “with an eye toward 2028” as Democrats work to recover from their crushing defeat to President Donald Trump in the 2024 elections, Axios reported Sunday, noting that the group describes itself as a “hub for center-left policy and advocacy.”

Bustos, whose lobbying client list in 2025 included OpenAI and Larry Ellison’s Oracle, said Next American Era plans to “air issue-focused ads during the midterm elections and the 2028 presidential campaign, but it won’t endorse candidates,” Axios reported.

Bustos said the founders of Next American Era share “many of the same principles as the Abundance movement,” a loose assortment of organizations and individuals—including large corporations and prominent billionaires—broadly supporting views expressed by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson in their 2025 book Abundance.

“She said cutting red tape, streamlining regulations, and supporting workforce training are among the top policy goals of her group, which is structured as a 501(c)(4) political nonprofit,” Axios reported

https://www.commondreams.org/news/cheri-bustos-next-american-era

Their aims are the aims of the GOP so how do these fools still wear the Democrat name tag?

I wish I could say that these fools are a minority….they are not even the minority leaders of both houses are wishy washy….

Democratic leaders in Congress are already backing down on one of their key demands in the fight to reform the federal immigration agencies terrorizing Minnesota and other parts of the country.

On Wednesday, Democrats laid out a list of 10 “guardrails” they said they wanted to see put in place to protect the public from abuses by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, before agreeing to a new round of funding for their parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

https://www.commondreams.org/news/jeffries-schumer-ice-masks

Was this an attempt at some form of bi-partisanship?  Or was it just cowardice?

Now look at the protests around Minneapolis….the Congressional Dems were quick for lip service but have done nothing to join the protests.

One Democratic lawmaker to whom Axios granted the veil of anonymity suggested that Democrats expect the base to “get upset” but believes the discontent will wash away because “then you’re going to have the real fight in two weeks.” Whether or not that period ends with any meaningful change in the status quo remains to be seen. Much of what Democrats seek would merely require various federal agents to obey rules and regulations that they’re already supposed to follow as a matter of agency directive—though enshrining these policies as laws would be a step in the right direction.

That said, there’s still the thorny matter of enforcing any new constraints that are imposed on ICE and Border Patrol. I hope I’m wrong about this, but by the time all is said and done, I don’t expect much in the way of material change where the president’s paramilitaries are concerned. At best, perhaps, people will see the faces of the thugs who are beating them—though not always, if Schumer has his way.

https://newrepublic.com/post/206262/democrats-join-civil-resistance-midterms

The Dems should be out there let the people see that their lives matter to them…..so far empty words and ill promises is all we have got.

So far the only ones that are stepping up are the true Progressives, not those that use the term to appear important, and I agree that working class politics is where this party should be centered not in the pockets of billionaires.

Speaking at a panel at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said that decades of government failures such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the 2003 Iraq War had opened the door for demagogues such as Trump among working-class voters.

The only way to defeat this, she said, is to reorient progressive politics around social class.

“We have to have a working-class-centered politics if we are going to succeed,” she said, “and also if we are going to stave off the scourge of authoritarianism, which provide political siren calls to allure people into finding scapegoats to blame for rising economic inequality, both domestically and globally.”

Elsewhere during the panel, Ocasio-Cortez elaborated on the way economic inequality fuels the demand for authoritarian leaders.

“We’re seeing, in economy across economy around the world, including in the United States,” she said, “that extreme levels of income inequality lead to social instability and drives in a sense in authoritarianism, right-wing populism and very dangerous domestic internal politics. And that is a direct outcome of, not just income inequality, but the failure of democracies over decades to deliver, the failure to deliver higher wages, the failure to rein in corporations.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-munich

I agree!

The DNC has tried to eliminate any dissenting voices and embraced the corporate policies that Clinton championed.

This is not what the people of this country needs we already have a big business party, the GOP, we need a party of the people that will work tirelessly for the betterment of people’s lives……something we have not had for a generation.

Time to stand up and bring this party back to where it belongs….on the side of the working masses.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Will Dems Have A Shot?

Since the election of the Orange Man from Florida the DNC has been struggling with their message…..is it possible they could find it before the next election?

With an election coming soon I have been looking that the Dems and their party in the coming years.

Their biggest problem is they are mostly old farts….

A generational clash is intensifying within the Democratic Party, as younger politicians challenge a leadership class that some say refuses to cede power and risks alienating voters. Veteran lawmakers such as 88-year-old Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC’s delegate to the House of Representatives since 1991, and senators in their 70s and 80s remain fixtures in Congress—even as millennials and Generation Z members now outnumber baby boomers in the adult population but hold far fewer seats, reports Rebecca Traister for the Intelligencer. The article describes incidents such as lawmakers physically struggling to navigate the Capitol or missing votes due to illness, but then running again anyway. One former member tells of an older colleague who, when asked why he doesn’t retire, simply asked, “Well, what would I do?” The power struggle is playing out in races across the country.

In Maine, 77-year-old Gov. Janet Mills, hopes to become the oldest freshman ever elected to the Senate in her primary campaign against 41-year-old oyster farmer Graham Platner. In Massachusetts, Seth Moulton, 47, is challenging Sen. Ed Markey, 79, while in New York City, 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani ran against and defeated 67-year-old Andrew Cuomo and 71-year-old Curtis Sliwa for mayor. While some of the older Democrats are stepping aside—for example, ex-New Hampshire Rep. Annie Kuster and Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith—many aren’t. And some, like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, are seen as actively working to keep younger candidates from gaining power. “While the olds may think they are saving us by sticking around, what they are often doing is denying the future itself just when Americans most keenly long to be reminded that there is one ahead of us,” Traister writes.

So new ideas are in short supply.

Plus since the 1990s Dems have been corporate controlled….

This time analysts are saying that the Dems, who have been struggling with messaging, have found the hook they need…..and that message is economics.

Democrats say: “They’re spineless,” Cathia Krehbiel, 48, of Indianola, Iowa, said of her party’s leaders. “I just feel like there’s so much recently that’s just going abhorrently wrong. And they speak up a little bit and they roll right over.” Overall, roughly one-third of Democrats described their party negatively in the open-ended question. About 15% described it using words like weak, or apathetic, while an additional 10% believe it is broadly ineffective or disorganized. Only about 2 in 10 Democrats described their party positively, with roughly 1 in 10 saying it is empathetic or inclusive. An additional 1 in 10 used more general positive descriptors. Jim Williams, a 78-year-old retiree from Harper Woods, Michigan said he typically supports Democrats but is disappointed with the party and its murky message. He feels much worse about the Republican Party, which he said “has lost it” under Trump’s leadership. “All he does is bully and call names. They’ve got no morals, no ethics. And the more they back him, the less I like them,” the self-described independent, said of Trump.

Trump was furious. “In just 6 months, I cut costs, especially Energy and Taxes, Tremendously. Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren, on CNBC, said costs have gone up,” he wrote on Truth Social, using his long-standing offensive nickname for the senator. “She is just angry that I blew up her terrible Presidential Campaign. Call her out!!!”

Trump’s wrong. Prices are going up on just about everything. “Government data, including from the Commerce Department this week, show that prices rose in June on items heavily exposed to tariffs, such as home furnishings, toys and appliances,” The New York Times reported over the weekend. That’s Trump’s Commerce Department. He may be trying to cook the books in other areas—notably by firing the federal official tasked with collecting (recently disappointing) jobs data—but he can’t hide the fact that the economy is getting worse.

https://newrepublic.com/article/198809/mamdani-warren-democrats-2026-message-trump

In the coming 2026 midterms and the economy the way it is there should be an open door for a Dem win…..but is it?

The 2026 midterm elections should, by all rights, be good for Democrats.

That’s because midterms are almost always good for the party that doesn’t hold the presidency; that party has gained House seats in all but four midterms since the Civil War.

It’s also because President Donald Trump has been a remarkably unpopular president; Gallup last week found he now owns both the lowest early-first-term and early-second-term approval ratings since at least John F. Kennedy. (Independents, in particular, have turned sharply against Trump.)

However, there is a sizeable “but” that comes along with that right now.

It’s looking like Democrats could squander at least some of that opportunity, if they don’t do something about their brand, which is historically awful right now.

That doesn’t mean they’ll lose the midterms. But it could mean they won’t take full advantage and grow their numbers as much as they could.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/30/politics/democrats-opportunity-2026-midterms-analysis

Me?  I think if anybody can find a way to lose then the Dems are that entity….their messaging for decades has been sub-par for decades….a lot can happen between now and the election and if a way can be found then the Dems will have their asses handed to them…..yet again.

Why?

Well the top Dem senator candidates are just a repeat of the past….old farts with heavy corporate ties….so much for looking for new blood.

That is why Dems are running scared because of the rise of the Progressives…..

…

Democratic party leaders have been accused of a wave of poor performances that go back far beyond last year’s chastening presidential defeat.

The party elite’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, have turned voters and donors away from the party. As have other incidents. In Illinois, Democratic US representative Chuy García’s plan to handpick his own successor upon his retirement next year, circumventing an open election, drew howls of criticism from all sides of the political divide.

Rightwing media outlets have gone after Democrats’ low favorability ratings and the party’s apparent refusal to integrate younger members into its leadership, at a time when the Republican party made JD Vance a vice-presidential candidate last year at the age of 40.

Democrat warns US progressives against moving toward the center: ‘It lost me the election’

However, observers say that the Democratic party’s failure to secure the continuation of federal subsidies for health insurance for millions of Americans last month, a move that ended the 43-day government shutdown, could have the most lasting negative effect on the party going forward.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/01/progressives-democrats-swing-rust-belt-states

I say bully for them…I would like to see Progressives take over the party and move the country forward.

There will be so much more on this in the coming weeks.

Whatcha think?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Dems Want To Know What Went Wrong

THIS IS HILARIOUS!

Ready for a good laugh?

About two and half years out from the 2028 election and the Dems want to know why they lost to madman Donny in 2024.

They put together a strategy to find out what happened and how to find younger voters.  (This ought to be good)

Democrats are launching a new program Wednesday to try to reach voters in their corner who opted to stay home in 2024 instead of voting against then-candidate Donald Trump, as the party continues its search for its identity in the second Trump era.

The Democratic National Committee program — details of which were shared first with POLITICO — targets over a million voters they view as likely Democrats in battleground House districts who voted in 2020 but didn’t vote four years later.

The large-scale voter contact operation called “Local Listeners” is a tacit acknowledgement of one of the ways Democrats fell short in 2024, when then-Vice President Kamala Harris failed to engender enough enthusiasm from likely Democrats frustrated with the Biden administration’s economic agenda and its handling of the war between Israel and Hamas.

“We didn’t lose to Donald Trump. We lost to the couch,” DNC Deputy Executive Director Libby Schneider said in an interview. “We saw our voters, many of our important voters, stay home. Obviously, that is a trend that cannot continue.”

A key element of the strategy, according to the party, will be training volunteers to engage infrequent voters with a “listening first” approach that prioritizes “active listening” and “having difficult conversations about politics.”

Part of President Donald Trump’s winning strategy included engaging with unlikely voters his campaign identified as being potential Republicans. Trump aggressively courted people who had skipped previous elections, focusing predominantly on young men, and ultimately defeated Harris among voters who skipped the previous midterm and presidential elections.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/04/democrats-2026-listening-program-00763666

First let me say getting a late start does not bode well for their next time around other than “not Donny” is their only hope.

But that said maybe I can help out just a bit…what went wrong in 2024….

Wrong candidate

More concern for donors/money then voters

Terrible platform

Focus on wrong economy

Little time spent with the actual voter

That is off the top of my head…..it went deeper than that…..but I will be interested to see what the ‘great minds’ of the DNC come up with…..how about you?

Do you think I missed anything in my summation?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Schumer Proves How Useless Dems Have Become

For years I have been saying and writing about how useless Dems have become…..their major concern is money not the people they pretend to care about.

Now the Senate minority leader has proven my point….

Progressive critics of Senate Minority Chuck Schumer had fresh reasons to speak out Sunday after the powerful New York Democrat said that “one of many of [his] jobs” in the US Senate was to fight for ongoing taxpayer-funded military and financial assistance to the Israeli government, a position that has been the focus of growing protest among rank-and-file party members and the public at large in the face of Israel’s brutal genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza.

“I have many jobs as [Senate] leader… and one is to fight for aid to Israel — all the aid that Israel needs,” Schumer said at a gathering of Jewish leaders and community members in New York on Sunday.

“I will continue to fight for it.,” Schumer continued. “We delivered more security assistance to Israel, our ally, than ever, ever before.”

According to Jacob Kornbluh, who provided footage of the remarks while reporting for The Forward, Schumer told the audience that his support for Jewish security funding will only continue growing under his leadership, calling it his “baby.”

“As long as I’m in the Senate,” Schumer said, “this program will continue to grow from strength to strength, and we won’t let anyone attack it or undo it.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/schumer-israel-aid

Warning Strong Words To Follow

Seriously you asshole….your job is not fucking Israel….your goddamn job is to serve this country not some sandy shithole half a world away.

This is the problem with congressional Dems….they are owned by lobbyists and special interests and we can thank that douchebag Clinton for this situation.

Time to take Schumer out and put him to pasture with the rest of the manure.

People Stop fucking trusting Democrats….they have not done anything substantial in decades….they are spineless and worthless lumps of crap.

Schumer is the poster child for how your mean NOTHING to these assholes….you are only needed for your worthless vote and then cast aside for the buckets of cash that awaits them once they are sworn in….

That is not my damn idea of representation….how about you?

+++Before some mindless asshole accuses me of antisemitism…let me state now….I do not give a shit about religious leanings….belief whatever you choose +++

Find a candidate that will do something constructive and not these fools that only see dollar signs or have some lame ass religious agenda.

I have had it with this puppets….none will see my vote…..Hell I would sooner vote for my dog than anyone of these worthless turds.

I apologize for the language but there are times that it needs to be said in anger.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Dems Are A Spineless Bunch

It is no secret that I have not been a fan of Dems for a very long time….I think they are cowards, spineless and worthless and to make my point I offer up two votes recently….

First the military budget vote….

Despite months of warnings from party members up and down the caucus that President Donald Trump has been “lawless,” “destructive, and ”authoritarian“ in his wielding of power both domestically and abroad, 149 Democratic members of the US House of Representatives on Thursday night joined with 192 Republicans to pass a sweeping military spending bill—a vote that progressive critics say exposes the fecklessness and hypocrisy of what claims to be an opposition party.

The 341-88 passage of the $828.7 billion fiscal 2026 military spending bill came over the objections of progressives who warned that the bill—now headed to the US Senate for final passage as soon as next week—is a tacit endorsement of the president’s policies, even as he has ordered federal agents to terrorize US cities, deployed US soldiers on domestic soil in the face of lawful protests, threatened to annex Greenland and other nations by force, and conducted overseas military operations—including overt acts of war over the last year against both Iran and Venezuela—without congressional notification, authorization, or oversight.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/democrats-military-spending-bill

Second the vote for funding ICE and DHS….

Seven Democrats in the US House of Representatives voted with nearly all Republicans on Thursday to pass a Department of Homeland Security funding bill despite growing calls from across the country for Congress to rein in the Trump administration’s deadly immigration operations, which are led by DHS agents.

Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar (Texas), Don Davis (NC), Laura Gillen (NY), Jared Golden (Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), and Tom Suozzi (NY) joined all Republicans but Rep. Thomas Massie (KY) for the 220-207 vote that sent the legislation to the Senate—where the GOP also has a majority, but it’s so narrow that most bills need some Democratic support to pass.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) notably refused to pressure members of his caucus to oppose the bill, even though voters clearly oppose federal operations featuring violence and lawlessness by agents with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) everywhere from California and Illinois, to Minnesota and Maine.

Jeffries and other Democratic leaders have faced growing public pressure to use a rapidly approaching deadline—if Congress doesn’t pass legislation by January 30, the federal government shuts down again—to freeze ICE funding. The bill that advanced out of the House on Thursday would give ICE $10 billion and CBP $18.3 billion.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-administration-ice-funding

Jeffries is as useless as teats on a boar.

Can you now see why I have no use for Dems?

Time for a change in Dem leadership for they are as corruptible as any GOPer.

Dems have an opportunity for success but will they embrace change?

You can see how Democrats got the wrong idea. When President Trump was sworn into his second term one year ago, it was not unreasonable for the opposition to feel somewhat cowed. Though his victory was narrow, Trump won the popular vote and made significant enough inroads into traditional Democratic constituencies—young people, people of color, working-class people—that his grandiose claims of a political realignment were arguably credible. That wasn’t an excuse to roll over—standing up to the regime was essential. But there was an argument for Democrats to be careful about picking their spots.

…

Instead, inexplicably, the leaders of the Democratic Party are still refusing to give up the fearful crouch they adopted immediately after the 2024 election. The most egregious recent example is their failure to organize serious opposition to funding for the Department of Homeland Security. The split screen we’ve been seeing on this in recent days is outrageous. ICE officers are kidnapping half-naked grandpas in the freezing cold; they’re denying legal counsel to detainees; they’re entering homes without warrants; they’re using chemical weapons against high school students; they’re sending babies to the hospital; they’re detaining 5-year-old children. They are violently occupying American cities, acting like the gestapo that Trump seems to want them to be.

https://newrepublic.com/article/205586/minneapolis-ice-democrats-funding

The Dems are being warned to change their mindset or face more losses….

Democrats may be riding high now, but one of their top strategists says the party is on track to crash in 2028 unless it overhauls itself fast. In a New York Times op-ed, David Plouffe—who helped run three recent Democratic presidential campaigns, including Kamala Harris’ 2024 bid—argues that despite strong showings against President Trump and MAGA-aligned candidates, Democrats have “no credible path” to long-term control of the White House and Senate. Plouffe warns that Electoral College shifts after the next census could make the map even harsher: A Democrat could win every state Harris took, plus Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and still miss 270 electoral votes, he writes. That matters, he says, because sustained power is needed to shape the Supreme Court, which could otherwise drift toward an 8-1 conservative majority over the next decade.

The party’s task, in his telling: Stop coasting on Trump’s unpopularity and rebuild a brand that can win “in politically unforgiving, even hostile, territory.” His prescription is blunt and policy-heavy. Step one: Tie Trump and congressional Republicans to everyday frustrations—prices, wars, economic turbulence—and make them “own everything.” Step two, which he calls harder: Confront how Democrats are perceived and offer a sharply focused agenda that voters see as immediately useful, not ideological. That means simple, easily communicated plans to cut living costs, from housing to child care to home health costs; aggressively build the workforce with needed jobs ( such as nurses, teachers, mechanics, plumbers); and regulate AI before it accelerates job loss, misinformation, and higher energy use.

Plouffe even envisions campaign ads that accuse Republicans of siding with “AI greed” and billionaire tech interests. He also urges Democrats to stop acting like guardians of a distrusted system. He calls for an anti-corruption push—term limits, lifetime lobbying bans, trading restrictions for lawmakers, even reconsidering presidential pardons—and for candidates to openly challenge their own party’s leadership, programs, and red tape. Voters, he argues, want reformers who will “blow the whistle” on broken policies and prove they can spend new tax revenue effectively. Both parties, in his view, are in deep holes. The difference, he says, is that MAGA is stuck as long as Trump dominates it. Democrats, he concludes, have a brief window to move while their opponent can’t. More here.

To me right now they appear they will do what they always do….wimp out!

The big question is will the Dems see the light and go for it or will they hang back looking for more cash from the lobbyists that run the party?

Right now all we have from the Dems is lip service their actions are not at all encouraging.

I say screw them all and primary these twats make them take a stance….if their spines will allow it.

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

On The Health Front

This issue has become dear to my heart with all the health issues I am dealing with it is good to keep an eye on who is doing what….

With an election looming I think two of the major issues for the mid-terms will be the economy and health care….with that said let’s look at what Uncle Don has promised us peons as a GOP plan.

Donald Trump is so lost on so many issues that he can’t even understand how lost he is. This is perhaps most evident with his “$20 trillion” in foreign investment. Trump’s wacky number is five times annual investment levels. It is two-thirds of GDP. But none of his aides can get him to stop repeating his imaginary number.

In the wake of the shutdown disaster, Trump seems intent on coming up with some alternative to the subsidies for people to buy insurance in the Obamacare exchanges. Not surprisingly, Trump has almost no knowledge of all the issues and complexities that have come up in the debate on health care reform over the last three decades.

Incredibly, he is completely unaware of his own ignorance. He proposes giving people money and letting them buy either their own health care or their own insurance. (It’s not clear what Trump thinks he is proposing.) Trump seems to think this is an original idea.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/11/19/trumps-new-ideas-on-health-care/

As per normal the GOP has half-baked ideas….

US President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have made a show of criticizing insurance company greed as they stand firm against extending Affordable Care Act tax credits and offer ill-formed alternatives.

But a report published Wednesday by the office of Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) explains how a scheme endorsed by Trump and some top Republicans would further enrich insurance giants and big banks.

The report focuses on growing GOP support for a proposal that would give Americans money in tax-advantaged vehicles such as health savings accounts (HSAs) to help cover out-of-pocket costs. Last week, Trump championed the idea in the Oval Office, characterizing the proposal as a way to “forget this Obamacare madness.”

In a social media post on Tuesday, Trump railed against “BIG, FAT, RICH INSURANCE COMPANIES” and doubled down on the idea of funding health savings accounts instead of extending the enhanced ACA tax credits.

But Wyden’s report argues that “no matter how Republicans design their plan, their promise to take money out of the hands of big insurance companies and put it in the hands of patients will go unfulfilled, because the very arrangements they tout are administered by large financial institutions and the same big insurance companies.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/republican-healthcare-plan

Now some ideas from Dems….as most know I support the idea of Medicare For All and we know that will not happen for god forbid we become healthy people….

Bernie has offered up a few ideas for consideration….

The country’s current debate over ACA subsidies has sparked fresh calls for a shift to government-funded universal healthcare, for which Sanders has long led the fight in Congress. He acknowledged that “while I believe that the long-term solution to the healthcare crisis is Medicare for All, and I appreciate the 16 cosponsors we have on that legislation in the Senate, and the more than 100 cosponsors we have in the House, this bill does not yet have majority support in the Democratic Caucus.”

“The good news, however, is that there are a number of much-needed reforms to the healthcare system that we could offer now that would substantially improve the lives of the American people and are also incredibly popular,” he continued.

Specifically, Sanders called for:

  • Extending the ACA tax credits;
  • Repealing Trump and congressional Republicans’ $1 trillion in cuts to the ACA and Medicaid;
  • Expanding Medicare to cover dental, vision, and hearing;
  • Cutting the cost of prescription drugs by at least 50% with legislation requiring pharmaceutical companies to charge no more for medications in the United States than they do in Europe or Canada;
  • Expanding primary healthcare with investments in the National Health Service Corps as well as community and teaching health centers; and
  • Banning stock buybacks and dividends, and restricting CEO compensation.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-healthcare-crisis

Just a few ideas to let my readers know that this is becoming a priority….something that should have been years ago….

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You KNow

“lego ergo scribo”

This Is Why Moderates Suck!

The news has broken that there may be a deal on the longest governmental shutdown in our history…..and the reason for this ‘miracles if miracles’ are those moderates that always throw a monkey wrench into to any plans the Dems may have.

Here is what is known as of this typing….

The longest government shutdown in history is now on track to end soon after a key procedural vote in the Senate on Sunday. Eight Democrats—technically seven Democrats and an independent who caucuses with the party—broke ranks and joined Republicans in the vote. Some key details:

The eight: They are Democrats Dick Durbin of Illinois, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine of Virginia, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, and Jacky Rosen of Nevada. Joining them was independent Angus King of Maine, per the AP.

No concession: Democrats did not win the key concession behind their holdout—a guarantee to extend health care subsidies, notes the Hill. But the eight moderates bucked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, arguing the shutdown is causing too much pain.

  • In common: Politico sees “few obvious threads connecting the group who broke the partisan impasse,” and its piece has details on their particular reasons. But a New York Timesanalysis sees one big thing in common: None are up for reelection in 2026 and could afford the “political hit.” Two, Shaheen and Durbin, are retiring.
  • Anger: Many Democrats, especially progressives, are seething over the moderates’ decision. Republicans have promised to hold a vote on the subsidies after the government reopens, but critics are skeptical it will result in an extension. It was “a very, very bad vote,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders in a video, per Fox News. “I think it’s a terrible mistake,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren. “The American people want us to stand and fight for health care, and that’s what I believe we should do.”
  • Justification: “I understand that not all of my Democratic colleagues are satisfied with this agreement,” said Shaheen, one of the eight. “But waiting another week or another month wouldn’t deliver a better outcome. It would only mean more harm for families in New Hampshire and all across the country.”

These eight have nothing to lose for they are not up for re-election so they would not have to answer for any transgressions they have.

This is why I hate moderates…..they are cowards and are only in it for their personal gain.

I lean Left and have never liked the crap about bi-partisanship….it is moderates that are keep this country down even when they are in the drivers seat.

And my leaning is getting further to the Left with each passing election.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Dems Find The Winning Plan

With the mildly successful voting in the past election the Dems seem to have found their political legs to defeat the Donny machine….or have they?

They were successful in NYC, Virginia and New Jersey but will that translate to the mid-terms?

Many people are delighted at the voting outcome….but will it translate?

To answer my question….past track record suggest they probably have not.

History is not on their side….

Democrats enabled Donald Trump to become president twice because of repetition compulsions that still propel the party’s leaders – undermining the party’s potential to end the real-life nightmare of Maga control over the federal government. Scrutinizing how this century’s Democratic leaders set the stage for Trump’s electoral triumphs is crucial not only for clarity about the past. It also makes possible a vital focus on how such failures can be avoided in the future.

Elites did quite well after Barack Obama took back the presidency for Democrats in January 2009, amid the Great Recession. He bailed out big banks while a huge number of people lost their homes. By the time Obama was most of the way through his presidency, he had facilitated “the dispossession of at least 5.2 million US homeowner families, the explosion of inequality, and the largest ruination of middle-class wealth in nearly a century”, the journalist David Dayen pointed out.

Obama’s last year as president was supposed to lead to Hillary Clinton’s first. She was the party establishment’s favorite. “You know, I get accused of being kind of moderate and center,” Clinton told a Women for Hillary audience in 2015. “I plead guilty.” The Democratic National Committee and corporate media provided major assists as she withstood the strong progressive campaign of Bernie Sanders. But after winning the nomination, Clinton never got traction with younger voters, who had gone overwhelmingly for Sanders during the primaries.

After Trump defeated Clinton in November 2016, Democratic party leaders could hardly blame themselves or their “moderate and center” nominee. Criticizing her coziness with Wall Street wouldn’t do. Neither would critiquing her thinly veiled contempt for the progressive wing of the party. Instead, the swift response from prominent Clinton campaigners was to blame Russia, launching a prolonged fixation on “Russiagate” that let the corporate-friendly leaders of the party off the hook.

The party leadership’s devotion to economic elites continued to evade scrutiny. As Sanders told a reporter in 2017: “Certainly there are some people in the Democratic party who want to maintain the status quo. They would rather go down with the Titanic so long as they have first-class seats.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/02/trump-democrats-playbook

There is the rub.

The status quo.

The party that Clinton built is addicted to corporate cash and that is not changing.

I am pleased that Donny took it in the shorts but I am not confident that the Dems will learn any electoral lessons from this win.

I believe they will slink back into the arms of the corporations and their money.

This country deserves better from a political party that is no better than the party they just defeated.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Takeaways

Votes have been counted and now it is time to take a quick look at what has been taken away from the vote.

Democrats scored sweeping victories across major states in Tuesday’s elections, signaling a sharp backlash to President Trump’s policies and offering their party new momentum ahead of the 2026 midterms. Voters turned out in “extraordinary” numbers for an off-year contest, per the New York Times, delivering wins for Democrats in high-profile races in Virginia, New Jersey, California, and Pennsylvania. The results—widely seen as a referendum on Trump—reinvigorated Democrats after a year largely spent out of power in Washington, with the party now eyeing redistricting fights and next year’s congressional races as opportunities to blunt the Trump agenda. More takeaways from Tuesday night, per the Times, CNN, NPR, and Politico:

  • Governorships: In Virginia, Democrat Abigail Spanberger won the governor’s race by spotlighting Trump-era federal worker cuts, becoming the state’s first woman governor—an honor her rival, Winsome Earle-Sears, also would’ve claimed. Meanwhile, New Jersey’s Mikie Sherrill rode criticism of Trump’s infrastructure policies to victory, beating Jack Ciattarelli, who CNN notes “had a strong statewide performance under his belt after his near-miss in the 2021 governor’s race,” as well as “a ‘Jersey guy’ appeal that he hoped would give him some separation from Trump,” who’d endorsed him.
  • New Big Apple leader: New York City elected Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old progressive and self-described democratic socialist, as mayor. Mamdani’s rapid rise and focus on cost-of-living issues have made him a new face for the left, though his appeal outside the city remains to be seen.
  • California: Golden State Gov. Gavin Newsom bolstered his national profile by championing a successful ballot measure to redraw congressional districts in Democrats’ favor, urging other blue states to follow suit. “Tonight, after poking the bear, this bear roared with an unprecedented turnout in a special election with an extraordinary result,” Newsom said Tuesday night.
  • Pennsylvania: Democratic justices on the state Supreme Court hung on to their majority for new 10-year terms, “in a perennial battleground state where legal challenges over voting rules are all but certain,” per CNN.
  • Economy: In both the two big gubernatorial races, as well as in New York City and in California, exit polls revealed that the economy was the most important issue or close to it, with the Dems claiming the win in most cases, per NPR.
  • Suburban shift: Residents on city outskirts especially came through in Virginia for Spanberger, who “ran up the score” in key suburban areas like Loudon and Prince William counties, where she received 64.3% and 66.7% of the vote, respectively, per Politico.
  • A 180 for people of color: Politico notes that minority groups seem to be shifting support away from MAGA camps, especially in New Jersey, where exit polls “showed Sherrill with large margins among Black, Hispanic, and Asian voters—demographics national Democrats spent millions of dollars to reengage during the campaign.”
  • More GOP vs. Dems: Republicans failed to capitalize on scandals dogging some Democratic candidates, such as Virginia’s Jay Jones, whose victory as his state’s attorney general despite controversy highlighted the depth of anti-GOP sentiment. The elections also reinforced a pattern: Democrats tend to outperform when Trump isn’t on the ballot, as seen in recent nonpresidential contests.

Some great news for the Dems but will it translate next year when the mid-terms come around?

A lot can happen between this vote and the next but hopefully the country is coming to their senses.

I Read, I Write, You KNow

“lego ergo scribo”

Will This Save Our Country?

There is a new battle over the possibility of shutting down the government….this time it is the Dems that are considering using this game to further deal with Donny….but seriously…..would that be a good idea?

The House members took the time to pass a short term plan to avoid a governmental shut-down….

The House on Friday passed a short-term spending bill to extend government funding for seven weeks and avoid a partial government shutdown on Oct. 1, but prospects looked dimmer in the Senate, where the two parties show no signs of budging on the matter. The bill would generally continue existing funding levels through Nov. 21, reports the AP. Democratic leaders are adamantly opposed and are threatening a government shutdown if Republicans don’t let them have a say on the measure, as some Democratic support will be needed to get a bill to President Trump’s desk for his signature. The vote was 217-212.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had few votes to spare as he sought to persuade fellow Republicans to vote for the funding patch, something many in his conference have routinely opposed in past budget fights. But this time, GOP members see a chance to portray Democrats as responsible for a shutdown. “We were very careful. We put no partisan measures in this. There’s no poison pills. None of that,” Johnson said leading up to the vote. In a sign the vote could be close, Trump weighed in, urging House Republicans to pass the bill and put the burden on Democrats to oppose it. GOP leaders often need Trump’s help to win over holdouts on legislation. “Every House Republican should UNIFY, and VOTE YES!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said that in opposing the continuing resolution, Democrats were working to protect the health care of the American people. He said that with Republicans controlling the White House and both branches of Congress, “Republicans will own a government shutdown. Period. Full stop.” The House vote now sends the bill to the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the Senate will vote on the measure along with a dueling Democratic proposal. But neither is expected to win the 60 votes necessary to advance.

Another close vote… playing the partisan game of do as little as possible.

At least we have a shot at some sort of logic but then it has to go to the senate, where logic goes to die….

Let the game begin….

The Senate rejected competing measures on Friday to fund federal agencies for a few weeks when the new budget year begins on Oct. 1, increasing prospects for a partial government shutdown on that date. Leaders of the two parties sought to blame the other side for the standoff, reports the AP:

  • Democrats accused Republicans of not negotiating with them to address some of their priorities on health care as part of the funding measure, even though they knew some Democratic votes would be needed to get a bill to the president’s desk.
  • Republicans said Democrats were making demands that would dramatically increase spending and were not germane to the core issue of keeping agencies fully running for a short period of time while negotiations continued on a full-year spending measure.
  • “The Republican bill is a clean, nonpartisan, short-term continuing resolution to fund the government to give us time to do the full appropriations process. And the Democrat bill is the exact opposite,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said shortly before the votes. “It’s what you might call, not a clean CR, a dirty CR—laden down with partisan policies and appeals to Democrats’ leftist base.” The AP reports the Democratic proposal would extend enhanced health insurance subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, plus reverse Medicaid cuts that were included in Republicans’ big tax breaks and spending cuts bill enacted earlier this year.

This song and dance bullshit is getting old….when will these turds start acting like the reps we elected them to be?

Donny is cheer leading for a shutdown…..

President Trump on Friday predicted the government would shut down “for a period of time” amid an impasse in the Senate between Republicans and Democrats.

Trump expressed some pessimism about the two sides reaching an agreement that can garner 60 votes in the Senate. Republicans have 53 seats in the chamber, meaning at least seven Democrats will need to support a funding measure to keep the government open.

“We’ll continue to talk to the Democrats, but I think you could very well end up with a closed country for a period of time,” Trump said. “And we’ll take care of the military. We’ll take care of Social Security. We’ll take care of the things we have to take care of.

“A lot of the things Democrats fight for … will not be able to be paid,” Trump added. “So we’ll watch and see how we do with that.”

(thehill.com)

This would fit nicely in his smear campaign and help make for a rally to drooling mental midgets a success.

Donny is hoping the shutdown occurs….he is licking his hateful lips.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”