Alternative Facts, Broken Promises & Wolves

[Endy0816]

It peaked in 1999.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States

 

At least during my own little lifetime it has been better under the Dem's. Either Clinton's skyrocket or Obama's picking up the pieces leading into this present recovery.

[rangerx]

Anybody who promises to stop the Federal Government from meddling in my life has my vote.

 

Conversely, anyone who promises to stop the board room from meddling in my life has my vote. Doctors and specialists are scientists sworn to do no harm, not politicians or lobbyists for profit and alignment.

 

Then of course there's the abortion issue. In which case, the right wing doesn't seem to mind government meddling in the reproductive health and rights of women.

 

If you must use anecdotes, I will too. I'm in Canada. A friend of mine is a journalist with the Canadian Press. He's a landed immigrant from Australia. A few years ago he was diagnosed with leukemia. His treatment was not based on his age, sex, citizen status or occupation. It was based on his condition. His treatments were successful for the most part and he remains actively employed in his chosen occupation and lives at home with his Canadian born wife and their Canadian born children.

 

You see, in Canada right to life ends at death, not birth. Family values mean they can live together in a productive manner without losing their home or children's college funds to pay a corporation for otherwise woefully inadequate services, lifetime caps or previously existing conditions.

I was born in the 1950s, during the polio outbreak. In haste, early vaccines were made from horse serum. It was known that one in one hundred kids would develop Reiter's Syndrome (reactive arthritis) from the preparation.

 

Citation here: http://www.clinexprheumatol.org/article.asp?a=1590

 

I was one of those kids and struggled with arthritis my entire life. I knew and watched kids my age die, because parents refused to vaccinate them. When speaking to these kids, it's difficult to understand how their parents could be so cruel and ignorant protecting their kids from side effects when the end result is a slow, painful death.

 

If I lived in America and developed cancer, I would be precluded or pay more in a higher risk pool even though cancer and arthritis are not linked.

 

My life has been productive. I've served in the Armed Forces (navy) and Coast Guard. As a veteran, I have no expectations beyond any other citizen when it comes to health care. However, as a child incapable of making my own decisions, I took one for the team, that others may live.

 

Why should I have to pay more than those who abuse themselves or receive less or delayed treatments than anyone because of their income?

Edited March 26, 2017 by rangerx

[DrmDoc]

While I see some good points in the above posts, I have to note that under Obama my medical insurance costs went up with no change in coverage, Our economy went in the tank (median household income peaked in 2008 in the US and has not recovered), a close friend DIED of prostate cancer after the "Improved" medical care system said he should not have his cancer removed surgically because he was too old, and it wouldn't kill him, and many more upsets. Anybody who promises to stop the Federal Government from meddling in my life has my vote.

 

The Federal Government has been meddling in our lives since before we were born and it's a good thing too because our lives would likely be miserable without it. Think about the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the New Deal which are, in many cases, our government meddling in our lives to our benefit against big business and poverty. Consider that you visit a science forum because, in some measure, you believe in the scientific method. If you do, then that method should lead you to a thorough analysis of the positions you hold against our government beyond those merely based on anecdotal experiences or unsubstantiated evidence. Consider all the true facts and evidence of what has transpired since 2008--not what's spewed by media and politicos--and ask yourself whether America truly isn't great already.

[Phi for All]

The Federal Government has been meddling in our lives since before we were born and it's a good thing too because our lives would likely be miserable without it.

 

With better (or even bare minimum decent) leadership and representation, the federal government's role as a protector is perhaps more apparent and appreciated. Right now, that role is being actively shunned in favor of its roles as defender and enforcer, and the negative effects are obvious.

[swansont]

Our economy went in the tank (median household income peaked in 2008 in the US and has not recovered),

Obama was not president in 2008, when the economy began to fall apart. It took a few months before his administration could do anything about that, much like any good news about the current economy is not due to any policies enacted by Trump, because he hasn't done much of anything yet.

[DrmDoc]

Here's a Bloomberg article that asks, "Remember when Trump said he saved 1,100 jobs at a Carrier plant?" As his faithful are beginning to discover, this was another promise the Donald was incapable of keeping. From the last paragraph of the article:

 

Layoffs at UTC’s Huntington plant began recently. The facility will be closed by early 2018. The Carrier fan-coil lines and related jobs will be gone by the end of this year. “I wish I could sit here and say the people are going to be all right,” Chuck Jones says. “That ain’t the f---ing case. A lot of these people’s lives are going to be ruined.”

 

[Delta1212]

But the tax break he arranged for the company is still there, right? So it's not a total loss!

[DrmDoc]

But the tax break he arranged for the company is still there, right? So it's not a total loss!

 

Yes, but I think it reveals Trump's true agenda, which is likely business first, jobs last.

[DrmDoc]

According to NBC News article:

 

On March 27, Trump revoked the 2014 Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order then-President Barack Obama put in place to ensure that companies with federal contracts comply with 14 labor and civil rights laws. The Fair Pay order was put in place after a 2010 Government Accountability Office investigation showed that companies with rampant violations were being awarded millions in federal contracts.

 

 

Although I've been keeping track of Trump's various rollbacks, I was not aware of this one. Absolutely deplorable that this edict hasn't received more attention. It seems that Trump and his Republican cronies are undertaking every effort to erase all evidence of Obama's presidency from America's history regardless of injury to our vulnerable citizenry. Despicable!

Edited April 4, 2017 by DrmDoc

[iNow]

Although I've been keeping track of Trump's various rollbacks, I was not aware of this one.

And the strategy of mass distraction once more pays off. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Look over here instead and focus on Russia and Obama wiretapping claims and my golf outings.

[Manticore]

He's flooding the channel with nonsense to distract those people who are only paying minimal attention from the things he's doing that they wouldn't like.

 

He's very intentionally making it more difficult to sift through what's actually true and what's not since doing so makes it easier to change things in ways that are unpopular.

 

With all the noise, it requires a higher cognitive load to isolate what's truly happening. Most of the public are too busy with life trying to survive and feed their kids and pay the bills to spend that kind of mental energy sorting through all of the latest politics and lies.

 

It's as if he's shining a giant spotlight on us to blind us from the more important items of lower illumination. He's blasting us with concert decibel sound to prevent us from hearing the whispers. He's spraying us with the tail of the skunk to prevent us from smelling flesh he's letting rot around us.

In other words, he's behaving exactly like a fundamentalist preacher - spending most of his time ensuring that there is no way the suckers can ever hear anything but himself.

[DrmDoc]

And the strategy of mass distraction once more pays off. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Look over here instead and focus on Russia and Obama wiretapping claims and my golf outings.

 

Indeed, he's the Wizard Of Crap. I've grown increasingly doubtful of our country's future and its ability to recover from the damage Trump and the Republicans could cause during this administration.

[Airbrush]

"Jared Corey Kushner (born January 10, 1981) is an American real estate investor and developer, publisher, and senior advisor to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump. .... Kushner is said to be President Trump's most trusted advisor, showing "unwavering loyalty" to his father-in-law."

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Kushner

 

Anyone else think that the installation of Jared Kushner as senior advisor is really Trump's attempt at establishing a Trump Dynasty? What wise advice can Trump expect from a spoiled 36-year-old whose main experience in life is inheriting his dad's real estate business (just as Trump inherited HIS dad's real estate business)?

 

Kushner looks more like an apprentice to Trump. Jared's job is to learn how to be president, more specifically how to be the next Donald Trump, maybe not such an obnoxious one. Has anyone heard Kushner's voice? I have never heard his voice and I watch cable news almost all day long. Is he the antichrist? What can we expect from him in the future ? since he's going to be around for a long, long time.

 

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Edited April 4, 2017 by Airbrush

[DrmDoc]

"Jared Corey Kushner (born January 10, 1981) is an American real estate investor and developer, publisher, and senior advisor to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump. .... Kushner is said to be President Trump's most trusted advisor, showing "unwavering loyalty" to his father-in-law."

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Kushner

 

Anyone else think that the installation of Jared Kushner as senior advisor is really Trump's attempt at establishing a Trump Dynasty? What wise advice can Trump expect from a spoiled 36-year-old who inherited his dad's real estate business (just as Trump inherited HIS dad's real estate business)? Jared seems more like an apprentice to Trump. Jared's job is to learn how to be president, more specifically how to be the next Donald Trump, maybe not such an obnoxious one. Has anyone heard Kushner's voice? I have never heard his voice and I watch cable news almost all day long. Is he the antichrist? What can we expect from him in the future ? since he's going to be around for a long, long time.

 

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I just think he's incompetent and he knows he's incapable of doing the job he was elected to do without his nursemaids. Trump has effectively abdicated his presidency to his children--whom no rational person would ever have supported or elected. Then again, like facts, I don't think reason appeals to Trump supporters.

[Ten oz]

Trump is very shallow. Ivanka is clearly his favorite person on earth. Trump probably assumes Jared must be a brilliant mind to have landed Ivanka. I am not even joking. I don't think Trump considers individual factors like disciplines in fields, experience, expertise, temperament, and etc. For him their is just winners and losers. Kushner landed Ivanka so in Trump's mind Kushner is a huge, big, enormous, very good, the best, type of winner. As such Kushner is more than qualified for everything in Trump's mind.

[Airbrush]

​Yes and both Trump and Kushner had similar upbringing, they inherited real estate empires from their dads. Trump sees himself in Kushner. Ivanka is Trump's favorite daughter-wife but she learned well from her dad that it is not ladylike for a woman to be president. That is why she would probably not run for president, but her husband is just fine, good looking and clean cut, to run after Trump's second term, in 2024. In Trump's mind that will give Kushner plenty of time, 8 years, to learn HOW to be president, not the way he did through painful trial and error. Each day Kushner joins Trump in an important meeting he tells him in advance " just watch and learn". Maybe that is why Kushner is never heard saying anything in the mainstream media.

Edited April 5, 2017 by Airbrush

[Airbrush]

Steve Bannon wants to "deconstruct the administrative state". That can be like eliminating middle management for operational efficiency, but leads to a concentration of power, and in government leads directly to dictatorship in my opinion.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/30/politics/trump-bannon-administrative-state/index.html

[DrmDoc]

Steve Bannon wants to "deconstruct the administrative state". That can be like eliminating middle management for operational efficiency, but leads to a concentration of power, and in government leads directly to dictatorship in my opinion.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/30/politics/trump-bannon-administrative-state/index.html

 

Fundamentally, the Republicans believe that it's not the government's job to care for its citizenry beyond the security of our nation which, in my opinion, is a fallacy. How can our nation be secure when its citizens aren't secure about their health, their ability to feed their families, their future, their environmental safety, etc.? These are all the things this administration seem to care very little about in favor of big business, Wall Street, and the wealthy. The effect will likely be more crime, more protest and violence against our government with more suffering and higher death rates among the poor and vulnerable. Mid-term elections can't come soon enough!

[Ten oz]

 

Fundamentally, the Republicans believe that it's not the government's job to care for its citizenry beyond the security of our nation which, in my opinion, is a fallacy. How can our nation be secure when its citizens aren't secure about their health, their ability to feed their families, their future, their environmental safety, etc.? These are all the things this administration seem to care very little about in favor of big business, Wall Street, and the wealthy. The effect will likely be more crime, more protest and violence against our government with more suffering and higher death rates among the poor and vulnerable. Mid-term elections can't come soon enough!

Many Republicans in past decades absolutely believed the Governement had a role to play in the social and infrastructure of the country. Eisenhower built our Highway system and sent in the military when when the Governor attampted to refuse Brown vs the Board of Education. Nixon signed Medicare into law.

 

What has happened to the Republican party is very sad.Towards the end of the Civil Rights era they began pandering to those in the South who felt their way of life was under attack to win an easy block of voters. Local groups would present extremist positions which were specific to their reigon and Republicans would placate them with talk of States Rights and Religious Freedom. It worked better than they could have imagined because that group were lock step and only cared about superflouos (nationally) issues. As time went on the efforts became increasingly cordinated as Conservatives began taking over talk radio and white evangelical churches became political action committees. More and more extremists joined the party and eventually the scales tipped. The Republicans who understood that the rhetoric about it not being the Gov't job the govern was a ruse used to secure southern votes became out numbered. With all the propoganda used to secure southern votes they had forgot to educate enough of themselves that it was just an act. Rural whites everywhere and not just the south began identifying with the rhetoric of a healthy federal govt being the root of all evil. Nixon, Reagn, and the Bush familiy all used racial and identity politics with a wink thinking that the majority of their party was winking back but that isn't the case.

 

By today's standard all Republican Presidents who have come before the Tea Party are basically Democrats. Reagan gave amnesty to illegal immigrants, Bush 41 raised taxes, and Bush 43 campaigned for guess work programs. They are still claim to love Reagan because he represented the extreme right in his day but the reality is that by today's standard Reagan was a moderate. More moderate than any Republican I can think of today. The pendulum has swung too far.

 

It is all backwards. Alternative facts are a drug conservatives think they are selling to get all us progressives and normal people hooked but the reality is they are getting high on their own supply.They are strung out junkies. Their propaganda is killing them. Sadly they seem prepared to take everyone down with them.

[DrmDoc]

Many Republicans in past decades absolutely believed the Governement had a role to play in the social and infrastructure of the country. Eisenhower built our Highway system and sent in the military when when the Governor attampted to refuse Brown vs the Board of Education. Nixon signed Medicare into law.

 

What has happened to the Republican party is very sad.Towards the end of the Civil Rights era they began pandering to those in the South who felt their way of life was under attack to win an easy block of voters. Local groups would present extremist positions which were specific to their reigon and Republicans would placate them with talk of States Rights and Religious Freedom. It worked better than they could have imagined because that group were lock step and only cared about superflouos (nationally) issues. As time went on the efforts became increasingly cordinated as Conservatives began taking over talk radio and white evangelical churches became political action committees. More and more extremists joined the party and eventually the scales tipped. The Republicans who understood that the rhetoric about it not being the Gov't job the govern was a ruse used to secure southern votes became out numbered. With all the propoganda used to secure southern votes they had forgot to educate enough of themselves that it was just an act. Rural whites everywhere and not just the south began identifying with the rhetoric of a healthy federal govt being the root of all evil. Nixon, Reagn, and the Bush familiy all used racial and identity politics with a wink thinking that the majority of their party was winking back but that isn't the case.

 

By today's standard all Republican Presidents who have come before the Tea Party are basically Democrats. Reagan gave amnesty to illegal immigrants, Bush 41 raised taxes, and Bush 43 campaigned for guess work programs. They are still claim to love Reagan because he represented the extreme right in his day but the reality is that by today's standard Reagan was a moderate. More moderate than any Republican I can think of today. The pendulum has swung too far.

 

It is all backwards. Alternative facts are a drug conservatives think they are selling to get all us progressives and normal people hooked but the reality is they are getting high on their own supply.They are strung out junkies. Their propaganda is killing them. Sadly they seem prepared to take everyone down with them.

 

Indeed, what they were from Lincoln thru Eisenhower has changed considerably and unfortunately for the state of our nation.

[Ten oz]

 

Indeed, what they were from Lincoln thru Eisenhower has changed considerably and unfortunately for the state of our nation.

Local gerrymandering, the electoral process, and the way Congress is proportioned have enabled this too. Every state gets 2 U.S. Senators for example. Wyoming has less than 600 thousand residents yet has the proportion of representation in the Senate as California which has 39 million residents. The result is rural community have far more representation per capitia than metro communities. As such politicians can successfully campaign on bringing back coal mining jobs and demagoguing renewable energy despite that fact that there are 5 times more jobs in renewable energy than coal mining. What happens in San Francisco, Seattle, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles , Philadelphia, Boston, Minneapolis, Portland, and all the out metro areas is what drives our national economy and innovation yet to win elections politicians must spend a bulk of their time in Lincoln Nebraska and Madison Wisconsin. Winning votes in Des Moines is simply more important than winning them in Silicon Valley. Ironically all these unproductive parts of the country have their own names: Bible Belt, Rust Belt, Bread Basket, Heartland.

 

Imagine what this country would look like if national politicians felt even half as compelled to pander to San Jose CA's population of over a million strongly as they do Des Moines IA's couple hundred thousand.

[DrmDoc]

Local gerrymandering, the electoral process, and the way Congress is proportioned have enabled this too. Every state gets 2 U.S. Senators for example. Wyoming has less than 600 thousand residents yet has the proportion of representation in the Senate as California which has 39 million residents. The result is rural community have far more representation per capitia than metro communities. As such politicians can successfully campaign on bringing back coal mining jobs and demagoguing renewable energy despite that fact that there are 5 times more jobs in renewable energy than coal mining. What happens in San Francisco, Seattle, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles , Philadelphia, Boston, Minneapolis, Portland, and all the out metro areas is what drives our national economy and innovation yet to win elections politicians must spend a bulk of their time in Lincoln Nebraska and Madison Wisconsin. Winning votes in Des Moines is simply more important than winning them in Silicon Valley. Ironically all these unproductive parts of the country have their own names: Bible Belt, Rust Belt, Bread Basket, Heartland.

 

Imagine what this country would look like if national politicians felt even half as compelled to pander to San Jose CA's population of over a million strongly as they do Des Moines IA's couple hundred thousand.

 

As you may know, 2 Senators per state was by design of our nation's founding fathers to give equal power to states with lower populations. Conversely and on balance, the number of Congressional Representatives states may elect was made contingent on the size of a state's population, which was a primary bases for the establishment of our decennial census. It's a system of government that greed and wealth will ultimately doom to failure though, hopefully, not within the desperately short years of my quickly vanishing lifetime.

[Ten oz]

 

As you may know, 2 Senators per state was by design of our nation's founding fathers to give equal power to states with lower populations. Conversely and on balance, the number of Congressional Representatives states may elect was made contingent on the size of a state's population, which was a primary bases for the establishment of our decennial census. It's a system of government that greed and wealth will ultimately doom to failure though, hopefully, not within the desperately short years of my quickly vanishing lifetime.

I know when and why it was designed but everything which was good in 1787 isn't good in 2017.The system is currently being exploited. Every metro area in this country votes democrat. Hillary Clinton even won Dallas, Houston, San Antinio, and Austin in deep red Texas. Republicans lost the popular vote in Senate races 2012, 2014, and 2016 yet still control Senate! The system which was meant to give equal power and balance is currently doing the opposite. It is giving power to lower populations areas at the expense of the majority. The republican party has lost the popular vote in 6 of the last 7 general elections yet still control our govt.

 

The Senate is Republican controlled 52 Republicans - 48 Democrats yet Democrats in the Senate represent 35 million more people. Think about that.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Tn9v6Jq-fd0uT7FkwD757LMghX5jYUwlaeSgZbPgRUg/edit#gid=0

 

In principle Article 1 section 2 is good but it needs an update. In 1787 there were 13 states. The most populated was VA with about 600 thousand and the least was Delaware with 60 thousand. The difference was 10x largest to smallest. Now we have 50 states and the difference largest to smallest is over 65x. It is also important to keep in mind the role slavery played on these decisions and how the scales were intentionally tilted from the get to. Slave holding states feared nonslave states would team up against them. I don't think in 2017 we should still hold ourselves to rules designed to protect slave states.

[DrmDoc]

In case you were wondering, here is where you can the 66 executive actions Trump has signed and what each does.

[DrmDoc]

It's confirmed, "President Trump is least popular president" according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Although polls are frequently unreliable, I think results showing that 58% of those polled think Trump is "out of touch" with the concerns of most people in the U.S. are spot-on.