Paul Ryan Builds A Wall - And We All Pay

By Jeff Simpson

H/T Teen Vogue(seriously):

Paul Ryan, who ducked all debates with his Democratic Opponent Ryan Solen, decided spending millions in his district to get re-elected to his heavily gerrymandered seat, has decided to tell us what he stands for AFTER the election.

Ryan has come out now and said he plans to defund Planned Parenthood.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday that Republicans would slash federal dollars for Planned Parenthood as part of the GOP effort to repeal the health care law.

Of course the incredible benefits and importance of what Planned Parenthood actually does is another blog altogether.  I want to focus on Paul Ryan's cowardice here.   The guy who would not debate his opponents, or even campaign in his district (because people knew who he was), first order of business (well second, his first order of business was to try and gut the nonpartisan ethics watchdog agency) was to do something he never once campaigned on.  

In our Constitutionally limited representative democracy, how it is supposed to work, is people who want to serve the public good, lay out their positions when they run for office.  Then voters know who each person is and vote according to the people who best represent their views.

In our current version of something we call a democracy, we get inundated with millions of dolalrs of smear ads, poor press and celebrity worshiping and end up with politicians who campaign one way and govern completely opposite.

In our Constitutionally limited representative democracy, when your representatives are not representing you, you organize via getting together with friends or like minded people, and/or starting a petition to get the voice of many people in a short time and/or go speak with your representative and try and reason with them.

Planned Parenthood decided to do the petition and deliver it personally to attempt to reason with Paul Ryan (R-Wall St.)  A few dozen women, armed in pink Planned Parenthood logoed T-shirts, were sure they could visit the Speaker of the House, the third most powerful position in Government, and explain to him that the Government does not actually fund Planned Parenthood(along with delivering their petitions with close to 100,000 signatures).

The thing is, the federal government doesn’t actually “fund” Planned Parenthood. There’s no big check or bag of money that goes to the reproductive and sexual healthcare provider and their affiliate clinics throughout the country each year. Rather, the federal funds that do go to Planned Parenthood all happen in the form of reimbursements for services rendered through Medicaid, the federal and state program that provides health insurance to the working poor, and Title X, the federal family planning program for low-income Americans. Furthermore, because of the Hyde Amendment passed in 1976, no federal funding can in any way go toward abortion services; abortion is the only medical procedure explicitly banned from Medicaid coverage.

Of course  the guy who "opposed" Trump, and is good friends with this guy:

Decided that he was so secure in his argument that the best way to address a few dozen ladies in pink shirts, was to hide.   Not only did he hide, he spent a ton of  taxpayer money to do just that.

These are the women he is scared of:

Paul Ryan built his own wall, but this one was to keep fellow Americans and constituents out.   Paul Ryan called in 6 security officers to guard the doors to his office and shield Congressman Ryan from hearing any information that would not square up with pleasing his corporate masters.  

This is the scene of his office that needed taxpayer funded security called for:

Hmmm, Kind of reminds me of someone else who is afraid of a group of women speaking up:

Be prepared on January 29th, we will be part of the proverbial snowball, with you know who steering:

Scott Fitzgerald - Trump Crazy Before It Was Cool

By Jeff Simpson 

Yes, the GOP Presidential nominee just threatened to put his opponent in prison.  Apparently Donald Trump wants to make America Great Again by bringing back the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798.  

No protesting the government? No immigrants allowed in? No freedom of the press. Lawmakers jailed? Is this the story of the Soviet Union during the Cold War?
No. It describes the United States in 1798 after the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
The strong steps that Adams took in response to the French foreign threat also included severe repression of domestic protest. A series of laws known collectively as the ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS were passed by the Federalist Congress in 1798 and signed into law by President Adams. These laws included new powers to DEPORT foreigners as well as making it harder for newIMMIGRANTS to vote. Previously a new immigrant would have to reside in the United States for five years before becoming eligible to vote, but a new law raised this to 14 years.

While John Adams, our second President was named a Federalist, he was truly more along the lines of modern day Republicans.    How fitting that the Republican party would come full circle., from the beginning of the GOP, where they arrested their political rivals.  Now the GOP is coming full circle, now in 2016 they are threatening to arrest their political rivals and trying to bring an end to the current Republican party.  

I know many of the right wing moon bats, cheer every time they think about Hillary heading to prison but then they do not truly understand our Constitutionally Limited Democratic Republic.   

From the Atlantic:

There are many sincere critics who wanted to see a more vigorous investigation into Clinton’s emails, and who were disappointed by the outcome of the FBI’s investigation. Congress hasn’t dropped the issue, and there are multiple lawsuits in the courts, forcing periodic divulgences of additional emails. Win or lose, the issue will continue to haunt Clinton.
None of that should undermine the appalling spectacle of a presidential candidate threatening to have his opponent investigated by a special prosecutor should he win. It amounts to an assault not just on Clinton, but on the rule of law itself. And even amid all the other invective on Sunday night, it stood out as a uniquely dangerous moment.

As Ezra Klein noted:

As bad as the recording of Trump bragging about sexual assault is, this is scarier — this is a major presidential candidate promising to violate our most basic democratic norms if elected.
 FollowJim Goldgeier @JimGoldgeier
When Trump said he'd throw her in jail my first thought went back to Putin doing that to Khodorkovsky.
9:51 PM - 9 Oct 2016     

This all sounds eerily familiar, almost deja-vu.   Now I remember! 

The Republican leader of the state Senate signed orders finding the 14 AWOL Democrats in contempt and allowing the chamber’s sergeant-at-arms to use police force to detain them

In Fitzwalkerstan, thanks to Scott Fitzgerald the WISGOP, were Trump crazy before Trump was wallowing around in his own filth for the world to see.   

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald was repeatedly warned he would be stepping outside the law if he forcibly returned 14 Democratic senators who fled Wisconsin in February, according to internal emails.
Records obtained from the offices of Fitzgerald and Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Ted Blazel show Fitzgerald was told he was on shaky legal ground by attorneys from three state agencies. The memos and email correspondence were released in response to a public records request from the State Journal.
In an interview Friday, Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said the flight of the senators and the resulting legislative stalemate were “uncharted territory” that no one knew how to navigate.
But he acknowledged the efforts to return the senators to Madison came off as “comical” and would have become a public relations “disaster” if any lawmakers had been hauled back to Madison in a squad car.
“The whole thing was a mess,” Fitzgerald said. “You just can’t compel a senator to come back to the chamber.”
He said the reality was brought home when police agencies refused to carry out his March 3 order to forcibly detain the senators. Among them was Rock County Sheriff Robert Spoden, who said his department would not honor any order to bring in Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville.
Said Fitzgerald: “There was no cop in the state that would enforce it.”

The Republican Senate Majority leader of Wisconsin, issued illegal orders to try and bully and intimidate his duly elected opponents.  

Luckily for the citizens of Wisconsin, our law enforcement agents completely ignored him.

It is time to stop the bleeding, the lawlessness and bullying in WI!   Send our Representatives a message in November by making him the minority leader! 

Scott Walker, I Can't Even With You

Are you sitting down? If you're not, you should.

Continue reading at your own risk....

From Larry Kudlow of the National Review, on last week's dinner Walker had, where Giuliani put his foot in his mouth, sponsored by something called "Committee to Unleash American Prosperity," which sounds like some sort of terrifying monster. 

"Noteworthy, Walker argued that when Reagan fired the PATCO air-traffic controllers over their illegal strike, he was sending a message of toughness to Democrats and unions at home as well as our Soviet enemies abroad. Similarly, Walker believes his stance against unions in Wisconsin would be a signal of toughness to Islamic jihadists and Russia’s Vladimir Putin."

What? Firing workers and ruining their lives is the new Republican jobs plan? I mean, duh, we knew that, but what the hell?

I see what Walker is getting at here. Russia is socialist yet still, because at one point in time, almost 100 years ago, they had a revolution that changed their political landscape over the course of the next 75 years, never mind the fact that that all ended in 1991 (or the day Trotsky died in my humble opinion.) He's trying to connect unions and labor rights to someone scary, i.e. Putin, and hoping that sticks in voters minds as some mash up of foreign policy meets job creation. I'm wondering if I've ever heard something so idiotic in my entire life, and nope, I don't think I have. I think this is the cherry on top of the GOP word salad cake. And hey, let's add jihadists into this mix. How does hurting labor unions in Wisconsin send a message to ISIS? Does anyone think ISIS cares? Does Walker think ISIS is so afraid of him, that they love everything he hates, so if he hates working class people enough, ISIS will suddenly support them and then we'll NEED Walker in the white house to fight off those scary labor-loving terrorists? Holy buzzwords, Batman.

Is that how a Walker white house would approach foreign policy? Does he know how fast the rest of the world would be laughing at us? I'm literally just sitting here, sighing and having a hard time wrapping my head over this entire thing. I'm befuddled. That doesn't happen easily.

Let's fast forward to the current labor landscape in Russia. Guess what? It isn't good. Working class Russians are treated like crap by their government. Low wages, high costs of living, and their money is worth nothing. If anything, Walker should being COMPARING himself to Putin, because like all Republicans, he's a religious extremists hellbent on destroying anything progressive. Remember last year when Republicans were in the midst of a total Putin love affair? Not only how he was reacting to Syria, but all the horrible anti-lgbt laws passed under his watch. Seriously, that's so messed up. And what happened with that? Did the GOP break up with him? Or did Walker forget a talking point? Whoops! One must remember that Vladimir Putin is a despot, which to you and I is a bad thing, but to Republicans, that's their favorite kind of dictator (see Reagan on Central America.)

Further into the article:

"He stressed the need for a positive Republican message in 2016, and bluntly criticized Mitt Romney for spending too much time on the pessimistic economic negatives emanating from Obama’s policy failures."

The irony in that statement is too delicious. And if anyone knows about economic failures, it's our dumb governor. I'm so excited to see the way he'll squirm when asked questions about Wisconsin's current debt, or why such a "fiscally responsible conservative" is delaying $108 million dollars in debt repayments, or why Wisconsin is in the hole of debt it can't get out of right now.

The national GOP should be embarrassed for touting this ignoramus. This is the kind of message they want for their 2016 presidential bid. If it wasn't so scary, it would be funny. And it's scary because people believe it, want it, crave this kind of messaging from politicians. But we need to keep fighting against him. We can't stop, and I think that all the hard work we've been doing to fight Walker and his agenda since 2011, will be the cause his presidential aspirations to crash and burn. Our work WILL pay off.

This picture perfectly sums up my feelings while writing this.

Whose Finger Do You Want On The Button?

The whole ugly affair of Russia invading Georgia does present some peculiar, and for those on the right, some very uncomfortable twists.

First, you have George Bush, who in 2001, met with Putin, looked into his eye, "sensed his soul" and liked what he saw (emphasis mine):

Respectful relations require honesty. And we did discuss areas where my country has differences with Russia -- over Chechnya, and over media relations. I also expressed my hope that Russia will develop constructive relations with its neighbors, like Georgia, that are trying to find their own way in a challenging, but hopeful world.

This was a very good meeting. And I look forward to my next meeting with President Putin in July. I very much enjoyed our time together. He's an honest, traightforward man who loves his country. He loves his family. We share a lot of values. I view him as a remarkable leader. I believe his leadership will serve Russia well. Russia and America have the opportunity to accomplish much together; we should seize it. And today, we have begun.

Even though Bush has come out condemning the actions of Putin and Russia, this does paint him as more than just a hypocrite, or as Andrew Sullivan accurately puts it:

Just imagine if the press were to discover a major jail in Gori, occupied by the Russians, where hundreds of Georgians had been dragged in off the streets and tortured and abused? What if we discovered that the orders for this emanated from the Kremlin itself? And what if we had documentary evidence of the ghastliest forms of racist, dehumanizing, abusive practices against the vulnerable as the standard operating procedure of the Russian army - because the prisoners were suspected of resisting the occupying power?

The right wing has ridiculed Senator Barack Obama for presenting a reasoned and rational reaction and recommended a sane course of action, including using political and diplomatic pressures on Russia.

But should they being saying anything? Their candidate, McCain, has taken a much stronger approach towards the situation, making things more tenuous for any influence the United States may have on the situation. This is the same McCain who thinks nothing of joking about bombing Iran. And has Dad29 has alluded to, McCain has a long history of having a very poor control on his temper.

Furthermore, there is now some concern about what McCain's motivations truly are when he urges a strong defense for Georgia. Is it because he wants to protect a young democracy that was allegedly an ally of the United States, or is it because his chief foreign policy advisor has been tapping into their coffers on a long-term basis? (Yet again, just another similarity between Bush and McCain. They really are two peas in a pod.)

It is possible McCain is confused between the state and the country, and thinks he is campaigning for the Georgian vote.

As sickening and tragic and frightening it is to see what is happening in Georgia, it does give Americans a good chance to see what the two candidates would do in a situation like this. Obama is for joining with allies to protect a country and restore peace. McCain is more worried about continuing the cash flow and putting on a show of machismo, or is maybe just having an aggressive outburst.

Whose finger do you want on the button?