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Why we need to push Medicare for All

Here’s how law and politics work:

You ask for X, knowing that your chance of getting it is slim. The other side asks for Z. You argue back and forth, make deals, and eventually get Y, somewhere between the two extremes.

So when people say “Medicare for All will never pass” please understand: We have to aim high. We fight for that and if we have to settle for something less, we do because it’s got to be better than what we have now.

If we start off with something weak as a proposal, all that’s going to happen is that the something weak will get whittled down to something even weaker.

You always negotiate by asking for more than what you are willing to settle for.

For a good example, look at Obamacare. Democrats gave in to Republicans over and over again and instead of a good national health care plan, we ended up with the plan originally proposed by Romney and the Republicans themselves.

So stop yelling at Democrats who want “Medicare for All” or forcing them to weaken their own plans before Republicans can even make a counter offer. Stop doing their job for them!

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Big Billionaire to the Rescue!

Matt Bors

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Too depressed to blog

This whole impeachment situation has just gotten me too depressed to blog. Apparently, the President can break laws left and right and it doesn’t even matter any more. After the Senate refused to convict, he went out and fired those who had testified against him, which is another easily proven crime (retaliation against witnesses) but of course, nothing is going to happen. Meanwhile, the justice department has decided that it works for Trump, not the American people, and is intervening in cases for political purposes, causing some of the lawyers in the department to quit in protest.

Now, admittedly, we as a country have been through worse. We had a civil war, for chrissake. But I had thought we were past that now, and the saddest thing is not so much what Trump is doing to this country, but instead how many of my fellow Americans are cheering him on.

cartoon by Rueben Bolling

 

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The impeachment trial, in summary

Tom Toles

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How to fire someone

Let’s say you’re a boss who can fire anyone any time you want. Let’s say you even have a catch phrase of “You’re fired” that you’re known for. Now let’s say you want to fire someone who works for you. What’s the best way to do it?

Obviously, the best way to do it is to call in some unconnected Russian friends with criminal ties and ask them to “take her out.”

I mean, duh.

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Oaths

Clay Jones

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Conservatives just want us all to be exactly like them

A right-wing troll who thought he was getting the better of me in a debate about “how liberals are forcing their views on everyone” said, “Oh yeah? Well, how many genders do you think there are anyway?”

I replied, “I don’t know and I don’t care. If people want to call themselves whatever gender they want or no gender at all, it doesn’t affect me in the slightest and I’ll call them whatever they want to be called because it makes them happy. The real question is: Why do you care?”

And that’s what a lot of conservative philosophy is about, isn’t it? Forcing everyone to live by their standards for things that don’t affect them personally in the slightest? Making everyone conform to what they believe?

“We don’t like abortions so you can’t have any. We don’t like gay marriage so you can’t get married. We believe in prayer in schools so you have to say our prayers. We think marijuana is bad so you can’t have any.”

Just leave us alone already. So many fights between liberals and conservatives would be over if they’d just leave us the fuck alone.

Be that guy

And before someone chimes in with “but liberals want to force us to do things all the time!” allow me to point out that those things do affect us. Your guns affect us. Giving you health care does affect all of us. Having good environmental policy does affect us.

What we’re not doing is passing laws telling you that you have to live your personal life according to our rules.

When conservatives talk about “freedom,” what they often really mean is “freedom to not have to do anything I don’t like” and “freedom to discriminate”: “Why is government telling me I have to serve gay people who I can’t stand? Why do they think they can regulate the environment so that I can’t burn my trash? Why do I have to pay taxes? Get the government off my back!”

Basically, conservatives want government off our backs in business and economic matters only (so they can get richer) but love having government involved in moral issues. Liberals want the exact opposite. We want government off our backs in moral issues but want government involvement in economics. And that’s because economics does affect us all.

And it’s all because they don’t like people who are different. They’d be thrilled if the entire country was white, Christian and straight. Anyone who steps out from the roles they want us to be in has to be criticized by them.

So don’t let any conservative try to tell you that you have to live your life according to their rules about how you should act, who you should love, what you should dress like, or anything that does not affect them personally. That’s what real freedom is.

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Such a character

Clay Bennett

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The return of Kenneth Starr

So let me get this straight.

Trump has hired Ken Starr — the man who tried to convince us all that a consensual blow job was grounds for removing a President from office — to try to convince us all that there’s nothing Trump has done that warrants removal.

Good luck with that, Ken.

mobster don

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Evidence

Darrin Bell