Sunday, December 29, 2024

Major Headline: Civil War in the Trump, Musk & Ramaswamy Camps Over H1B Visas

These two grifters are at it again
(Elon Musk & Vivek Ramasamny)

From NEWSWEEK “Civil War” within the Trump, Musk camp with this headline:

“MAGA Civil War Erupts as Trump Backers Turn on Vivek Ramaswamy Over H-1B Visas”

Ramaswamy drew backlash from Trump and self-declared MAGA voters when he voiced his support for bringing “highly skilled workers from other countries into the U.S. via the H-1B program,” which focuses on foreign workers in specialized occupations.

Ramaswamy wrote on X (formerly Twitter):The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over 'native' Americans isn't because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation), A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture. Tough questions demand tough answers & if we're really serious about fixing the problem, we have to confront the TRUTH: Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer). That doesn't start in college, it starts YOUNG.”

Nikki Haley didn't mince words when responding to Ramaswamy's X post writing:There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture. All you have to do is look at the border and see how many want what we have. We should be investing and prioritizing in Americans, not foreign workers.”

Mike Cernovich, a longtime right-wing media personality and provocateur, also chimed in saying:The Woodstock generation managed to build out aerospace, the one before went to the moon, America was doing great. Underlying your post is that we were all living in squalor until being rescued by H-1B's. Then why did everyone want to come here?”

Ramaswamy responded:That version of America, the one that used to embody unbridled exceptionalism, is exactly what we want to return to. That's a point about culture, not immigration policy.”

Others on the right have also voiced support for restricting foreign workers from entering the country.

The prominent right-wing influencer Jack Posobiec wrote on X: “Why would America recruit foreign talent rather than recruit own on talent right here at home? Imagine how many more JD Vance’s are out there.”

What Others Are Saying:

Laura Loomer, far-right firebrand and staunch Trump loyalist, commented on H-1B policies after Trump tapped Sriram Krishnan as White House senior policy adviser for AI posted:@VivekRamaswamy knows that the Great Replacement is real. So does @JDVance. It's not racist against Indians to want the original MAGA policies I voted for. I voted for a reduction in H1B visas. Not an extension.”

Billionaire Mark Cuban wrote in response to Ramaswamy's post:How do you feel about people who say college is over-rated? In order to have more homegrown engineers, don't we need more kids going to college?”

Many immigrants have voiced concerns about the second Trump administration and whether the president-elect will try to restrict H-1B visa program like he did at the end of his first term. Trump and many of his anti-immigration allies, previously said they would work to make cuts to the programs.

Related to the above article is also this article from THE HILL with this headline: “Musk calls some MAGA supporters contemptible fools as H1B visa row intensifies.”

(Note: There may be some duplication between the two excellent articles – sorry for that).

My 2 Cents: In simple terms Musk & Ramaswamy have to get out of any government decisions that influence Trump with their DOGE unofficial policy ideas and plans and such.

The sooner they are gone the better for the nation as a whole. Those two characters are truly a hazard to all that we as a nation stand for.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, December 15, 2024

Plea to New GOP Majority: Put the Brakes on Elon Musk to Save Our Democracy

The Face of Power & Greed

First watch this MSNBC introductory part of the story that lies ahead for the country vis-à-vis the Trump and Elon Musk partnership that has formed that is hair-raising to the say the least with this headline:

“GOP faces test with Elon Musk's threat to fund primary challengers for Trump detractors”

We have a conjunction of massive wealth and massive political power with the absence of accountability. Will anybody stand up and say, “Stop?”

The main story follow below:

From ALTERNET an excellent article on Elon Musk and this startling yet true story headline concerning money & power (with a few minor edits and formatted to fit the blog):

“Here's what happens when the world's richest man buys the presidency | Opinion”

Billionaires slash SS, Medicare, and Medicaid programs to fund their own tax cuts: GOP legislators are toying with reducing payouts under the system, including raising the retirement age and other benefit cuts.

A GOP representative recently told Fox Business Network: “We’re  going to have to have some hard decisions on Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare.” 

Trump’s GOP will be making “hard choices,” meaning they will be cutting benefits, in order to fund tax cuts for wealthy donors.

Trump tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to slash government programs and regulations through a not-yet-existent Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Musk and Ramaswamy went to Capitol Hill last week to talk up their plans under DOGE, after which GOP lawmakers publicly confirmed that “everything, including Social Security and Medicare, is now on the table.”

What’s not on the GOP’s table is fairly taxing billionaires like Musk and Ramaswamy, including requiring them to pay their fair share of social security taxes.

During America’s “golden” years, the wealthy paid their fair share in taxes: Many voters do not understand that oligarchs, CEOs, heirs, and the uber-rich pay far lower taxes today than they used to. From the 1930s until the mid-1980s, America’s top earners paid over 60% of their income in taxes, and the percent fluctuated according to federal need. On social security alone, if they paid into social security at the same rate as the lower & middle classes, the fund would remain solvent and be able to expand benefits instead of slashing them.

At present, social security taxes are capped for the wealthy, meaning, they stop paying social security taxes at a certain level which is far below their actual earnings. 

In 2024, the Social Security tax cap is set at $168,600, meaning income over that amount is not subject to any social security tax whatsoever.

What happens when the world's richest man buys the presidency: For billionaires like Musk and Ramaswamy, only $168,000 out of their millions & billions in annual income is subject to social security taxes, and the rest is social security tax free. Although tax-adverse conservatives would beg to differ, subjecting full, high wealth income to SS taxes would stabilize the fund.

Musk bought the presidency to write his own rules:

1. Musk, with a reported annual income of $141,475,524,215, spent over $250 million to get Trump elected through dubious means including that short lived fraudulent lottery of $1 million a day.

2. Musk pays an effective tax rate of 3.27%. Musk paid $44 billion to purchase Twitter, which he then used to amplify far right messaging and weaponize election disinformation

3. Musk now manipulates algorithms on X to boost his own opinion, and had special code written to force his posts into more people’s feeds whether they want them or not.

4. Musk’s own AI program identified him as the chief disinformation super spreader of the 2024 campaign (according to the Center for Countering Digital Hate).

5. Musk’s false pro-Trump election claims resulted in over 1.2 billion views on X.

6. Musk spending billions to spread election disinformation and funding Trump PACs was just the cost of doing business.

7. Musk has received at least $15.4 billion in federal government contracts over the past ten years.

The snag is that lucrative federal contracts come with not-so-lucrative regulatory oversight, as his SpaceX, Neuralink, and Tesla have discovered.

When Space X discharged polluted/toxic water into nearby bodies of water in Texas, for example, Musk found out that even in MAGA-crazed Gov. Greg Abbott’s state, where they’re itching to build concentration camps for immigrants, some people still prefer clean water.

For Musk, spending $250m to choose his own low-information boss, re-write pesky regulations, and set his own tax rate was an obvious bargain.

For the rest of us the oligarchy is firmly in charge, and we should brace for program cuts and policies enriching the super-wealthy at everyone else’s expense.

But, the silver lining is that economic disaster will make the 2026 election a cakewalk for Democrats, but that assumes an exhausted population will still be paying attention.

 Related Articles:

·  What Bezos and Musk really want from Trump

·  Chief shareholder in the presidency: Musk on Trump-Zelenskyy Mar-a-Lago call fuels fears

·  Michigan Secretary of State investigating Elon Musk Super PAC

·  Problem for Tesla as Dems flee over Musk’s Trump endorsement:Sales may have peaked

·  Horrified Tesla owners feel embarrassed as anti-Musk sticker sales boom

My 2 cents: A good closing based on fine article and headline now fits perfectly as I’ve said since Trump gave Musk carte blanc to run the nation – which proves just how duped the Trump voters were when they believed he would save us from all sort of disasters – oops!!!

All the above is a reminder about Musk and Trump running the nation into what I see as gloom and well, just more gloom and doom for us while those two gain more massive wealth for the Trump family and Musk, USA. So, hang on tight the worse is yet to come.

Thanks for stopping by.


Thursday, December 12, 2024

Goodbye Education Dept: If Linda McMahan Takes Over Awful Trump Nominee

 

Unqualified Nominee for Education Department
(Proves Trump not very bright about government)

Another Trump cabinet nominee not qualified for appointment – I now count Linda McMahon along with Pete Hegseth; Kash Patel; Tulsi Gabbard; R. F. Kennedy Jr; and well just about everyone who needs Senate advice and consent approval.

1. Linda McMahon is not qualified for the position. Like Betsy DeVos, McMahon has no significant background in public schools nor any understanding of what it takes to help every student thrive. 

She served one year on the Connecticut Board of Education after lying about having a degree in education

McMahon spent her career as CEO of WWE, an entertainment company that has been accused of shady business practices and the abusive treatment of employees. 

2. She has pledged to push an extremist agenda. McMahon co-founded the America First Policy Institute, an organization formed in 2021 specifically to promote Trump's public policy agenda after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. 

Her chief goals for education are: (1) Promote vouchers, which drain resources from public schools, and (2) send taxpayer money to unaccountable private schools that are permitted to discriminate against students and educators. 

Those policies she promotes are aligned with and straight from The Project 2025 plan

3. She will be a rubber stamp for Trump.  McMahon is a billionaire who donated tens of millions of dollars to Trump’s campaigns over the years. 

If confirmed, McMahon will stand at the ready to carry out the things Trump campaigned on such as (1) removing expanded Title IX protections put in place by the Biden administration, (2) pushing voucher schemes, and (3) dismantling the Federal Department of Education altogether.

NEA President Becky Pringle said:Parents and educators will not stand by as Trump and Betsy DeVos 2.0 steal resources for our most vulnerable students, increase class sizes, cut job training programs, make higher education more expensive and out of reach for the middle class, take away special education, and put student protections at risk. Instead, we will work together to reject the harmful, outlandish, and insulting policies being pushed by the Trump administration, and that begins with calling for the Senate to reject the nomination of Linda McMahon as Secretary of Education.”

My 2 Cents: Those listed above are loyalists to Trump rather than to the constitution and to the public who – in other minions to Trump the Tyrant and that my friends is NOT how it’s supposed to work.

Some of them are outright liars; women haters; a threat to the nation’s security; and extreme danger to the health and welfare to the children of the country and general public; and various sexual charges. 

What we need are more John McCain’s in the senate when he gave a thumbs down and saved the ACA. 

But, many of the nominees and two not in any official capacity (Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy) have other ideas that are harmful like attacks on SS, Medicare, Medicaid, general budget spending, and more. I hope readers see my point.

My hope is that the approval process will deny those named above by Republicans who will listen to the nominees and just say no to them.

Thanks for stopping by


Friday, November 29, 2024

Nation's Healthcare: Gruesome Twosome Out of Touch, Chaotic With Deadly Ideas

RFK Jr. (HHS) & Jay Bhattacharya (NIH) 

Trump's healthcare knowledge fits in a thimble

You want worrisome about Trump’s 2nd term and his picks for high-level positions – then duck – he has lined it up and with very few exceptions in a word, it sucks. 

We are in for the fight of our collective lives as noted in this PROJECT 2025 update headline:

“New Trump Administration Packed with Project 2025 Architects”

PROJECT 2025 – The project Trump said knew nothing about … the man cannot be trusted with the truth, but believe me, he will act on the lies about the truth for his benefit and not the general public’s welfare.

Three Key Takeaways from the Associate Director, Project 2025 at the Heritage Foundation:

1. It’s past time to lay the groundwork for a White House more friendly to the GOP conservative right.

2. The policy book Mandate for Leadership represents the work of more than 350 leading conservatives and outlines a vision of conservative success.

3. The usual suspects in the permanent political class will be ready for the next conservative administration. Will we be ready for them?

Case in point, the two really awful picks and in my opinion the most-dangerous picks for public health:

RFK Jr. for HHS Secretary: Rory Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy, and Joseph P. Kennedy II Jr’s siblings said in a statement when he was running for President:The decision of our brother Bobby to run as a third party candidate against Joe Biden is dangerous to our country. Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision, or judgment. Today’s announcement is deeply saddening for us. We denounce his candidacy and believe it to be perilous for our country.”

Jay Bhattacharya for NIH Director: He is Stanford physician and economist who challenged President Joe Biden’s coronavirus lockdown policies saying COVID was no “biggie” [sic]. He is expected to work closely with Kennedy.

From McGill University: “With Trump’s nomination of Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to head the NIH, health research’s purse strings will be in the hands of a pandemic denier.”

From NEWSWEEK: “RFK Jr could cost lives.”

From Trump about his twosome: “Together, Jay and RFK Jr will restore the NIH to a Gold Standard of Medical Research as they examine the underlying causes of, and solutions to, America’s biggest Health challenges, including our Crisis of Chronic Illness and Disease. Together, they will work hard to Make America Healthy Again!”

My 2 Cents: Simply stated for anyone who doubts the post above and contents, do more research in depth as I have and even more if you can. Then you will see the horrible results those two health care nominees listed above present to the general public.

What they stand for and would advocate on the entire national health care system is both unknown and very worrisome not just for their outlandish views for sure, but also for the plans and ideas they have put forth are the most-dangerous to say the least.

My related posts here and here and on several other posts, too. Now, I leave it at that.

Thanks for stopping by.

 


Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Day-One Dictator: Trump Orders Democracy Invalid Re: Musk & Ramaswamy Ideas

 

Should be named DODGE not DOGE 
(Musk's play on cryptocurrency Dogecoin)

Trump's TV show gave him new name
(Apprentice Host to Snake Oil Salesman)

Three Stooges: Name, Fame & Fortune)
(He's Coming for Everyone Not MAGA)

MAJOR UPDATE & BREAKING NEWS:

Just in this hot news from The Independent with this very concerning headline:

“Marjorie Taylor Greene tapped to work alongside Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on DOGE panel”

Taylor-Greene, the ultra far-right firebrand will chair a House GOP sub-committee to recommend mass firings and government cuts. 

MY NOTE: How can that possibly be legal? If so, fire her own raggedy ass!!! (Pardon my French).

Main Post Follows:

Another huge Musk plan or gimmick to run our government structure the way Trump wants it run:

More on the three maniacs now setting up and redesigning our government and thus the entire Federal structure in their images and not one for “We the People” as the preamble to the current Constitution says that they want to rewrite.

Those three are so-called leader DJT and his two lapdogs Elon Muck and Vivek Ramaswamy as this article from THE HILL headline lays out in stark concerning terms:

“Musk, Ramaswamy lay out plans for ‘mass’ federal layoffs, rule rollbacks under Trump”

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy said their brand-new government efficiency panel (DOGE) will identify “thousands” of regulations for Trump to eliminate, which they argue will justify “mass head-count reductions” across government. 

Musk and Ramaswamy preemptively addressed arguments about civil service protections that could potentially block Trump from firing federal workers writing:The purpose of these protections is to protect employees from political retaliation. But the statute allows for ‘reductions in force’ that don’t target specific employees. The statute further empowers the president to ‘prescribe rules governing the competitive service.’ That power is broad. With this authority, Mr. Trump can implement any number of ‘rules governing the competitive service’ that would curtail administrative overgrowth, from large-scale firings to relocation of federal agencies out of the Washington area.” 

Government workers are already mobilizing in the face of potential mass cuts, reportedly hiring lawyers and preparing public campaigns while also hoping Congress will step in (Reuters reporting). 

DOGE also hopes to take aim at “unauthorized” federal funding, which could impact everything from veterans’ health care and opioid addiction treatment to NASA (Washington Post reports). 

There is widespread skepticism about the ability of Musk and Ramaswamy’s panel to enact change. As an outside-of-government commission, it would be limited to an advisory capacity, meaning it could face numerous obstacles from within the executive branch, as well as Congress.

Musk’s close relationship with Trump could be influential. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO played a key role in Trump’s campaign, contributing millions of dollars to his own pro-Trump super PAC and getting out on the campaign trial.

Musk has remained close at hand; the billionaire tech mogul joined the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago on election night to watch the results roll in and later received a shout out in Trump’s victory speech. 

Musk also has spent much of his time at the Palm Beach, Fla., resort over the past two weeks, reportedly weighing in on Trump’s Cabinet picks and attending meetings, including those with world leaders.

Original post below more updates later I’m sure so stay tuned:

See earlier posts here, here, and main post that follows below. 

Topic: New & Largest Volcano Ever is Building. It’s Name: The Donald

Now building up pressure and expected to fully erupt full strength sometime after noon on Monday, January 6, 2025 across the whole nation and perhaps even the entire planet??? 

Some of the damage of the basics here from the WASHINGTON EXAMINER with this troubling headline:

“Trump taps Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead Department of Government Efficiency”

The newest from that trio of total crazy lunatics: President-elect Donald J. Trump has now rewarded billionaire owner of “X” Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy with plum positions heading up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

(NOTE: I renamed it DODGE as seen above).

Trump in his announcement said:I am pleased to announce that the “Great” Elon Musk, working in conjunction with “American Patriot” Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”). Together, these two “wonderful Americans” will pave the way for my Administration to (1) dismantle Government Bureaucracy, (2) slash excess regulations, (3) cut wasteful expenditures, and (4) restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the “Save America” Movement.”

Musk in turn said:This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!”

This is a breaking story and will be updated. 

Now the story in question as an update here from BLOOMBERG NEWS with this headline:

“Musk & Ramaswamy Eye Five-Day Office Week for Federal Workers”

Example of the Musk & Ramaswamy garbage: There are more than two million federal workers and over 400 agencies across the country. Eighty percent of federal employees work outside of Washington, according to the Partnership for Public Service.

If officially embraced by Trump, the return-to-office has the potential to set off a wave of fights between the White House and the labor unions that cover employees at many federal agencies. 

Some workplaces have longstanding tele-work arrangements that predate the Covid-19 pandemic.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, has panned work-from-home policies, telling CNBC in 2023 that tech workers: Get off their goddamn moral high horses with the work-from-home.”

Here’s the latest on two more of Trump’s harsh & wild plans:

#1 from USAToday: Musk and Ramaswamy outlined a plan Wednesday for Trump to oversee a massive reduction in the federal workforce, arguing the employees won't be needed after Trump eliminates “thousands of regulations.”

Musk and Ramaswamy have now singled out in a Wall Street Journal op-ed federal employees “who view themselves as immune from firing thanks to civil-service protections.”

The duo pointed to recent Supreme Court decisions to argue the “incoming president has the executive power to nullify many regulations, pursue large-scale firings of federal workers, and relocate some agencies outside of Washington. 

They also said:A drastic reduction in federal regulations would require vastly fewer federal employees.”

#2. Trump now opposes the Constitutional First Amendment, which in part guarantees and protects “Freedom of the Press” with a new Press Freedom bill now circulating in Congress – the very bill that he urges Republicans to block.

What is the full story on that bill?

Trump wrote in a post to his Truth Social network which linked to PBS News Hour video that discussed the “Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act” (Acronym the; “P.R.E.S.S Act) telling the GOP: “REPUBLICANS MUST KILL THIS BILL!!!”

Musk, the CEO of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, has panned work-from-home policies himself saying on CNBC in 2023 that tech workers should “…get off their goddamn moral high horses with the work-from-home mindset [sic].”

My 2 Cents: I’m sure, with no positive evidence of the destruction being laid upon the pubic since Trump won on November 5th in his one-day dictator for only one day spewing.

Folks, it’s here now and right in our collective face and it is uglee… 

Prove me wrong – bet even MAGA types can’t or won’t even ‘fess up and other than by spreading more of you know what.

Oh yeah I wonder if anyone regrets voting for Trump. Whew, that’s the $64,000 question isn’t it?

Thanks for stopping by.


Tuesday, November 12, 2024

"Yersinia Pestis Bacterium": Trump's Plague Spreading Like Crazy Seek Cover Now

Trump and his two self-purported co-Presidents
(Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy)

Newest Volcano: Named Trump – It is Preparing to Erupt Full Strength Sometime After Monday, January 6, 2025.

Heads up details here from the WASHINGTON EXAMINER with this very troubling headline:

“Trump taps Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead Department of Government Efficiency”

The newest from that trio of total crazy lunatics (IMHO): President-elect Donald J. Trump has now rewarded billionaire owner of “X” Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy with plum positions heading up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Trump in his announcement said:I am pleased to announce that the “Great” Elon Musk, working in conjunction with “American Patriot” Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”). Together, these two “wonderful Americans” will pave the way for my Administration to (1) dismantle Government Bureaucracy, (2) slash excess regulations, (3) cut wasteful expenditures, and (4) restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the “Save America” Movement.”

Musk in turn said:This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!”

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

My 2 Cents: The full sick details are in the above site link – warning: It is total insanity. 

Trump with “co-President” Elon Musk is totally going bananas again with a bigger promotion. I am not disconnected, or spreading hyperbole, disinformation, or silly nonsense. 

Everything above is in Trump’s own words – words no president-elect has ever expressed in such deliberate and stark and quite frankly harsh language that he has expressed over and over. 

In my opinion, the worse is yet to come (the opposite of what Kimberly Guilfoyle said remember seeing and hearing this from her: 

The Best is Yet to Come  (click, watch, and then puke)

Thanks for stopping by.

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Speaker Johnson: Confesses to Take Blow Torch to ACA & Make Dramatic Changes

 

Pic of his pledge to kill ACA making rounds

Hidden camera pic of Johnson's kill ACA pledge

You want more scary stuff from “leaderless” GOP Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA) running to win and see Trump win, too? 

This headline story and contents should scare the living daylights out of all of us here from the WASHINGTON POST also here from USA TODAY with this headline:

“Mike Johnson vows major changes to Affordable Care Act if Trump wins election”

House Speaker Mike Johnson pledged “massive reform” of the Affordable Care Act if Trump is elected president, reopening a politically sensitive policy issue for Republicans a week before Election Day.

Johnson appeared at a campaign event Monday for a Republican House candidate in PA, and he told the attendees that GOP leaders are again weighing how to overhaul the 14-year-old ACA law, which provides health coverage to over 50 million Americans and has been a frequent target of Republican repeal efforts, today over 60% approval up from 38%.

Johnson said, wearing a personalized jacket emblazoned with the Trump-Vance campaign logo (photo above):Health-care reform’s going to be a big part of the agenda. A caucus of Republican physicians has shared proposals with him and that GOP leaders hope to take a blowtorch to the regulatory state and fix things.”

An attendee asked:No Obamacare?” (Using the term popularized by Republicans to describe the health law since 2010).

Johnson responded:No Obamacare, The ACA is so deeply ingrained, we need massive reform to make this work, and we got a lot of ideas on how to do that.”

The ACA, which Democrats enacted in 2010, has become one of the party’s more popular achievements after initially being perceived as a political liability. 

Sixty-two percent of adults had favorable views of the law in April, up from 38% a decade earlier, according to polling by KFF.

The law and its health insurance exchanges since established more than a decade ago continues to help lower the national uninsured rate to record lows in recent years. Kamala Harris has promised to expand enrollment through the law if elected president.

Republicans, meanwhile, had mounted over dozens of efforts and votes in Congress to overturn the law. Trump won the presidency in 2016 by pledging to “repeal Obamacare.”

But several Trump-led repeal efforts fell short — with the Senate in July 2017 coming one vote away from overturning the Affordable Care Act — and the law’s near-death catalyzed new support for it.

That historical one-vote moment – July 28, 2017 is when Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) did the best thing ever with his thumbs down “No vote” we will keep the ACA – his vote was needed – he saved the program and he died one year later from brain cancer himself. Watch the short video and remember that hero:

Thumbs down - to save ACA that's my vote (historic)

The backlash to Republicans’ repeal efforts also helped Democrats win back control of the House in 2018, prompting GOP leaders in recent years to avoid talking about doing away with the law. Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), last month even praised Trump as a good steward of the Affordable Care Act.

Democrats remain eager to highlight GOP's past pledges to “repeal Obamacare,” with the Harris campaign and its allies on Tuesday night portraying Johnson’s comments as a vow to do away with the Affordable Care Act.

Sarafina Chitika, a Harris campaign spokeswoman, said in a statement:Speaker Mike Johnson is making it clear — if Donald Trump wins, he and his Project 2025 allies in Congress will make sure there is ‘no Obamacare. That means higher health-care costs for millions of families and ripping away protections from Americans with preexisting conditions like diabetes, asthma, or cancer.”

Then Leslie Dach, the chairman of Protect Our Care, a Democratic-aligned health-care advocacy group, wrote in a statement:Johnson finally told the truth about Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican allies’ agenda for health care in their first 100 days. They want to repeal the ACA.”

Johnson’s office disputed Democrats’ interpretation, with a spokesman accusing Harris of “lying about Speaker Johnson” by claiming that he had pledged to repeal the law.

Johnson spokesman Taylor Haulsee wrote in a statement: “The audio, transcript, and even the NBC News article her campaign cites make clear that the Speaker made no such comments.

Haulsee declined to comment on what health-care changes Johnson would pursue next year or whether the House speaker would rule out an attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The Trump campaign said that he did not support repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement: This is not President Trump’s policy position. As President Trump has said, he will make our healthcare system better by increasing transparency, promoting choice and competition, and expanding access to new affordable healthcare and insurance options.”

Trump has worked to downplay his past criticism of the Affordable Care Act ahead of the election, saying in that September debate that he would keep the “lousy” law in place, while acknowledging he still hopes to replace it with something “much better.”

Vance floated a plan to roll back its approach to helping chronically ill people shop for better plans. FYI: That has been tired with no luck.

My 2 Cents: Nice try GOP & MAGA Mike Johnson – when Trump loses, which he will, then I expect to see MAGA Mike resign from Congress out of shame. 

The man is not a leader. 

I bet he can’t even spell leadership (re: My earlier post here). 

Thanks for stopping by.


Friday, October 11, 2024

GOP Speaker Mike Johnson: No Skills; Rudderless Not a Lick of Common Sense

 

Speaker Johnson Tied to Trump & Putin
(Anti Aid for Ukraine)

GOP House Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA) is the worse speaker in our political history – that is based on the below story showing his strong support for Trump and Putin from this article headline story from RBC Ukraine:

“No appetite: Speaker Johnson sparks scandal with remarks on Ukraine aid”

Speaker Mike Johnson expects that further assistance to Ukraine will not be necessary, saying:I don’t have an appetite” (in his interview with Punchbowl News) as he continued:I don’t have an appetite for further Ukraine funding, and I hope it’s not necessary. If President Trump wins, I believe that he actually can bring that conflict to a close. I really do.”

Johnson expressed his hope that if re-elected, Trump could call Russian President Vladimir Putin and tell him to end the war.

Johnson added that everyone in the world is tired of the war and wants to find a solution.

However, in his view, Johnson said that if Kamala Harris becomes president, the war will not end, and such a scenario would be desperate and dangerous.”

Earlier, Johnson had refused to bring to the floor of the lower House of Congress a bill for $60 billion in funding for Ukraine.

At that point, the US ran out of funds allocated for military aid to Ukrainian defenders, which led to a suspension of weapon packages being sent.

As a result, the Ukrainian Armed Forces faced significant problems with artillery ammunition, and in that case, Russian forces were able to capture Avdiivka. 

My 2 Cents: As I said right up front Speaker Mike Johnson is a weak poor leader.

My earlier related Johnson post is here.

Plus, his support for Trump and his total lack of common sense as outlined above and in other policy statements prove my point.

Voters may elect Kamala Harris but if the GOP keeps the House, then her leadership and vision will be sidelined by people like MAGA Mike Johnson.

Solution: Vote and send down ballot DEMS to the House and Senate to support VP Harris – that will solve a million problems – but not if the likes of MAGA Mike Johnson stay in power… Ergo: He has to go.

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