Pandemic Porkers

(5.7 minute read) 3/30/2020, 2 pages

NOTE:  I lifted some of the technical information below from historian Heather Cox Richardson. I also did, as I usually do, research on my own. BTW the bills are available online for anyone to see. There is no mystery about what has taken place just lies that are being messaged. It happened right out in the open.

In the beginning.

Now, for those that might not know funding bills have to come from the House NOT the Senate. So a “shell bill” was created by the House to serve as the original bill. This bill was replaced by the Senate bill that was written by Republicans. And yes it was loaded with PORK. Pork for porkers. Pork for Fat Cats. Pork for FOT and FOR. Pork for corporations. Pork for the always suffering rich.

Do you CARE?

I’m seeing a lot of misinformation about the stimulus bill that recently passed. It’s called Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 (CARES) H.R. 748. It is actually the 3^rd relief bill to pass. The first one was H.R. 6074. The 2^nd H.R. 6201. The first two CARE bills were bi-partisan. Not the 3^rd.

There’s a lot of junk circulating about Democrat “pork” in the 3^rd bill. NOT factual at all. The Senate Republicans wrote the 3^rd 2.2 trillion dollar bill WITHOUT input from the Senate Democrats. The pork is and was Republican pork. The bill passed the Senate 96 to 0 and went ‘back’ to the house. All the Democrats voted for the bill in order to keep it moving and back to the conference committee.

FOPs

Now when Democrats saw the Senate bill they objected to the lack of money for average Americans and that there was not enough oversight for the $500 billion being provided for corporations. Now, I think, that this next part is important, it wasn’t that the Democrats didn’t want to serve pork to corporations they wanted more oversight on the slush fund. They also didn’t want the Friends of President Trump(FOTs) and the President to get any of the money. If you remember President Trump would NOT commit to not having his businesses benefit from the money.

Also if you remember the news at the time, corroborated by el Presidenté Trump when he was talking about the House Dems not passing the CARE bill, the House Democrats and Republican Senate were at an impasse. This is when the House Democrats produced a 1400 page wish list bill in contrast to what to what the Senate Republicans had produced. House Republicans did not participate in this bill. No need really. They had seen what their comrades in the Senate had delivered up. This is when Senate Republicans realized that they needed to start compromising with the Democrats. No action at all was taken on the 1400 page House bill.

Tilting windmills

The House intended to pass the 3^rd CARE bill with a voice vote BUT yet another Republican held up that simple vote until enough members of the House returned, voted him down and passed the bill. In the Senate there were 4 Republicans that spoke out against giving more money to average Americans than what they deserved. Republicans always are suspicious about poor people taking advantage of them. They just have a low opinion of those that aren’t them.

The bill then went to President, who signed the bill.

But wait!

The President also included a signing statement. He said that there were things in the bill that he would disregard. Gasp! You’ll never guess what he objected to. Oversight of the slush fund and the portions that said he and his companies wouldn’t take any money. He has added some things since signing the bill like wanting his name on all the checks going to Americans.

Classic

And of course President Trump is lying about the bill already and his Republican jesters are spinning his message. There were no windmills in the bill that the Republicans wrote. There was no “Green New Deal” in the bill that the Republicans wrote. Seriously people. Republicans.

And now the President’s base is accusing Democrats of doing what Republicans in point of fact did and telling people to be sure and remember at election time. Thanks Obama.

Pork lite

There was some pork or rather pork lite added by both parties. Nothing draws Democrats and Republicans together like a little pork. It’s what they do. There were actually some good things in there too.

I’m going to single one out because the conservative Republican messaging is already going after the money that went to the Kennedy Center. I have to admit that even I wondered about that one. (BTW the center is part of the government.) Melania Trump is a trustee of the center if that helps any. President Trump along with other Republicans and Democrats supported giving them funding as well. Republicans proposed giving them money in the original bill that they put together.

There were some other appropriations in the bill. You can read them for yourself if you want. Its 335 pages long. At least the PDF that I downloaded is that long. But why bother with actually reading when it’s so much fun just making stuff up and passing lies around to support Glorious Leader?

I often make what I call an LT15 check. That means usually I can find out if something is true in less than 15 seconds on average. Granted some stuff takes a little more digging. There isn’t anything that I’ve had to look up relevant to this page that took me longer than 30 seconds.

Down towards the bottom of the bill at like around 200 pages in is where the other stuff starts popping up. The Kennedy Center shows up at page 272. You can read all about it! Yes, I went through all 335 pages. The amounts of money are just dizzying! It’s a $2.2 trillion dollars bill! Kind of breath-taking really. It’s there for you to read it. If there’s a government agency, program or building that’s been missed it’s an accident and probably something in the bill covers that.

No windmills though. Sorry to disappoint. Just say that you’ve read the bill and make up whatever you need to believe. You’re in austere company.

Check please.

It’s quite possible that the President doesn’t know what is in the bill that he signed either. Three hundred thirty five pages are waaaay past his attention span. Reading things gets in the way of his tweet time. He just wants to make sure that his name is on the checks. He likes it when people are grateful to him. He rewards his jesters except for when he punishes them.

 https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/748?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22H.R.+748%22%5D%7D&s=1&r=1

Wallowing in Lies [POLITICS]

NOTE:  My usual comments. Supporters of President Trump should ignore this post. You won’t like it and it’ll just upset you. It’s 1330 words long. Its 7 minutes of your life that you’ll never get back. So, do yourself a favor and don’t read it. Seriously. You don’t need the aggravation.

BREAKING NEWS!!!

President Trump declares NATIONAL EMERGENCY!!! Hordes of pillaging, raping, thieving, murdering brown people are preparing to invade. They’re cleverly disguised as unarmed Hispanic men, women and children seeking asylum, looking for a better way of life or wanting to work the hard jobs needing workers! Don’t be fooled by these sneaky brown people. The Leader is prepared to spend 8 billion in tax dollars to pay for an IMPENETRABLE WALL to combat these miscreants! Staging of napalm, Agent Orange, mines, tanks, cluster bombs, tear gas, etc. will begin immediately. Strike aircraft will be placed on alert along with Spectre AC-130 gunships, armed drones and attack helicopters. Militias in white hooded robes are encouraged to head to the border to help defend the Fatherland from the brown menace! Martial law is now in effect along the entire border. LEADER! LEADER! LEADER! (I just threw that last part in for dramatic effect.)

In the meantime…

        *To belabor the point as well as reinforce it, President Trump said that a wall along the southern border would be built and that MEXICO would PAY for it! The crowd would cheer when the Leader said it. LOTS! “100%!” The crowd would cheer some more. The Mexican government said that they would NOT pay for the wall. Then Candidate Trump would say “10 feet higher!” The crowd would cheer! LOTS MORE! President Trump said that it would be easy for him to get Mexico to pay for his wall! Cheers from the crowd! “LEADER, LEADER LEADER!”

        *This is a link to some real jazzy music with Trump saying 10 feet higher! < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swQ_2RxRGeE  > It really is nicely done and kind of funky. It’s got a catchy beat and would be easy to dance to. The lyrics are simple and easy to remember.

        *President Trump even said that we should remember him saying that Mexico would pay for the wall. He said it repeatedly. He said that it would be easy. The link below is a compilation of a few of the many times of then candidate Trump saying that Mexico would pay for the wall. He would ask who was going to pay for the wall and his supporters would shout back, “Mexico!” It was great theater. That was his campaign promise. NOT saddling the cost on the back of tax paying Americans.

< https://www.facebook.com/NowThisElection/videos/360168261233542/ >

        *We know how that turned out. Instead, President Trump shut down our government and put 800,000 Americans out of work trying to get the poor and middle class to pay for the wall instead. And he said that he was proud to do it.

        *BREAKING NEWS!!!  Hordes of brown people have taken over the streets of McAllen, Texas! They’re everywhere! It’s chaos! The situation is desperate! They’re being overwhelmed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLGBoL9BWQ4

        *What? McAllen, Texas’ population is 82% Hispanic. So, never mind.

        *But what about this border city? In the clip their mayor does a nice job of explaining what’s going on. He has an excellent grasp of the situation. In short, they don’t want a wall either and there is no crisis.

        *It bears mentioning that every border Representative opposes Trump’s wall. Seems kind of odd, doesn’t it? Shouldn’t these people know that they’re under attack? Shouldn’t they know that they’re being invaded? That brown people are the enemy?

        *Doesn’t it seem that since this has been going on for a couple of decades that we should have bands of roving brown people pillaging in the streets by now? Now I know some people go completely nuts when an illegal brown person commits a crime but really given that this has gone on so long doesn’t it seem that local news should be filled with thousands of brown illegals committing heinous crimes every day? But it isn’t. Why? Because it isn’t happening. There aren’t hordes of looting, raping brown pillagers running amok in the streets.

        *There is no crisis at the border. There is no crime wave. There is no invasion taking place. We aren’t under attack from poor brown people. They come because we created the demand for their labor.

        *Border apprehensions peaked in the year 2000 at 1.64 million and have declined 76% since then. < https://www.factcheck.org/2018/06/illegal-immigration-statistics/ > Apprehensions declined 43% in President Trump’s first full year in office. They are now back up to where they were under President Obama. He also had an abysmal record in how immigrants were treated during his administration.

        *Obviously we were ALL lied to by the Leader. The bottom line is that President Trump is no longer trying to deliver on his campaign promise to have Mexico pay for his wall. That’s failed. COMPLETELY! He tried briefly selling the premise that Mexico will somehow be paying for the wall because of the updated trade agreement. That’s yet another lie among the thousands that he has told.

        *Where was I? Oh yes! The Leader’s wall to keep out the brown hordes coming to join the 10 million or so illegals already here working the jobs in the fields, hospitality industry, meat processing plants, landscaping, restaurants and construction trades that can’t be filled. Oops! I almost left off golf courses, hotels and country clubs. President Trump is now busily firing the illegals that worked for him at his various properties for years. Then he can start hiring some more at below market wages. He already imports foreign domestics so it isn’t like he puts all his eggs in one basket when it comes to hiring cheap labor.

        *This is a link to a nice thoughtful piece about the border wall done by the CBC News. (Canadian.) < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzfCZ6W7NeE > I just added this because I like to throw in something thoughtful every now and then.

        *I like making bullet points. Here are a few concerning what the Leader campaigned on.

·       “I will build a great wall!” [Now, I didn’t take that to mean that he would engage in the actual physical labor of building a wall. Having Mexico pay for the wall is now dropping out of the picture. Yet it was a foundational claim that President Trump campaigned on. Foundational.]

·       “Lock her up!” [He didn’t really mean that either and said so after he was elected.  < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix49LjgaTaI > Remember when Flynn chanted it? Irony.]  

·       “Repeal and replace” was another big one. < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-VTbt-i_b4&t=41s > < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q50m4ohVUs > [Another big lie. He had nothing. Republican leadership had nothing. They have been doing their level best to destroy to Affordable Care Act rather than fixing what was wrong with it. Two years they controlled government completely. Nothing.]

·       He was only going to appoint the best people. [He’s had the highest turnover of staff than any President in history. People that he has appointed are not only being found guilty but they are pleading guilty to crimes that they committed working for the Leader.]

·       He wasn’t going to have time to golf. [He’s already golfed more than President Obama did in 8 eight years.]

        *President Trump continues every day to tell a gullible group of people anything they want to hear in order to retain their support, whether it’s lying about tax breaks, tax returns, providing affordable insurance, not being involved with the Russians, throwing Hillary Clinton in jail or lying about immigrants. He is an equal-opportunity liar: no lie is too big or too small. He embodies the worst characteristics of politicians that conservatives say they abhor. He will continue to write checks with his mouth that he can’t cash.

        *This is the president that the Republican Party has been in the process of creating for years. He is the Republican Party. The Republican Party is him.

Spread it around like fertilizer (GOVERNMENT)

NOTE:  Originally I wrote about this topic in the “Leave the swamp” piece. I decided to expand upon the subject.

        There are a couple of ways to take the title. Try for the positive.

        For a long time I have believed that concentrating our government in one place just serves to make a particular geographic location an attractive target for either nuclear, conventional or unconventional weapons. It serves as a results magnifier. This is especially true when congress is in session or during inauguration.

        We elect people and send them to Washington. They may make trips back to their home states to keep in touch with their constituents but they really become part of the environment that they are surrounded with on a daily basis. They often buy their million dollar plus homes in Washington while keeping only token accommodations in their home states. (I don’t know if it’s true for all states but in some they can rent a room in a friend’s house and satisfy residency requirements.) Their families often get “Washington” related jobs like working for or being lobbyists.

        The reality is that they become a part of the community where they spend most of their time, where for all practical purposes they live. It’s where they shop for the needs of living. Their home states are just where they return to, to get the votes necessary to continue their new lifestyles.

        In this age of technology and instant electronic communications and big screen TVs why is it necessary to concentrate people physically in the same location in order for them to vote and make decisions? We have progressed way past teleconferencing. Secure communications are not only possible but being used extensively in some sectors.

        There has been a lot of talk about draining the swamp when it comes to Washington. How about leaving the swamp? Break up the club; send them closer to the constituents they are supposed to represent.

        Congress could be convened electronically as well as physically. Regions could be created that would serve several states. Initially, military installations could be converted to provide the secure meeting facilities for various regions. Civilian meeting places could be built as well. They could be constructed with suites suitable for elected officials who couldn’t make it home overnight. (Elected state representatives have done this for years.) This would encourage them to at least build their million and multi-million dollar homes in their home states. This would create jobs in their home states. On a very positive note it would bring elected officials home or at least closer to home. Close enough to drive home on weekends and hobnob with the local people they allegedly serve. They could mingle more with the hoi polloi and be more accessible.

        A Senator or House member doesn’t have to physically touch people in order to meet with them, though this might complicate things for foreign interests, lobbyists and those from financial institutions who like to schmooze and party with elected officials. There could be an increase in the number of lobbyists that would be needed to cover all the various regions.

        Meetings would still be convened at the Capitol for those who wanted to continue being there, since that would be one of the regions.

        Major corporations avoid having their leadership travel together so that in case of an accident all of a company’s leadership wouldn’t be together. Our leaders are already targets wherever they are. Shouldn’t they be spread out so that there is less chance of large numbers being wiped out at the same time during an attack or disaster? Obviously the number of potential targets would be increased as well but the effects of a successful attack would be less devastating. There are a lot of elected representatives in the line of succession that should not be close to one other geographically.

        There are pros and cons to most changes but it’s time to change the physical way that the business of democracy in the country is conducted. Dealing with the reality and possibilities of the time that we live in is way past due. One thing for certain—we need to make sure that the above scenario isn’t perceived as being a possibility for those with evil intent.