MPaulamrams writers blog: Congenial-speak #34

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Congenial-speak #34

At the end of the day

push comes to shove

They looked for the DUH moment. The GOP found it. You can't make this stuff up, it is not fake news. Why you might ask, because the “POTUS” tweets it, nearly verbatim, he says it in interviews, his lawyers say it. So Trump is actually waiting patiently with a pen in hand to sign the next bill to which he can append his name. Will the bill go up in value? No, just in CBO scoring. What was the last count—thirty-two million? No bill, no matter how many U.S. citizens it could potentially kill, has ever become a law without the president doing something. Researching it, cheering it, opening it to hearings, doing some in-depth market study. McConnell's bill is the laziest piece of legislation I've ever seen. That, in itself, tells me these guys planned to fail. At the end of the day the ACA can be tweaked to the GOPs' liking.

Semantics

Careful, don't say Obama as a prefix or its unpopularity will defile the CBO. Funny, the ACA is amenable, Obama care is not. Trump stumped from the get-go that he would “REPEAL Obama care IMMEDIATELY” moments after the throngs of inaugural spec-tents began to disperse. Yes the Affordable Care Act was, by our own Democratic governor's assessment, “not affordable.” It fast became problematic to the middle-class who watched their premium sky-rocket. However, with Trump's bill giving major ta breaks to the wealthy I can't see how the middle-class thinks they'll be any better off. None of these guys give a shit about anyone but themselves. Half of them are not even politicians. Trump, his son, his son-in-law, his daughter, they've persuaded a few remaining to screw America for their own financial gain.

Who is your news source?

How is MSNBC biased? At this point how can anything be biased? There has been no aisle for a long time. I see Republican senators, current and former, blasting Trump all the time. By definition, there can not be a real bias. MPR, is that trustworthy? I watched FOX news one night and in 5 minutes I heard a half dozen contradictions. I heard how a witch hunt is going on, and pretty much a spicer take on the news. Now how do you take the word of Sean Hannity and a handful of mostly conservative politicians vs. noted journalists interviewing a wide range of politicians from both parties? Look at twitter, Facebook, SPAM for god's sake! The maority of its content is anti-Trump suggesting—no asserting—everything the news “speculates.” Yes, the nation is divided, but the approval of Trump has gone in the opposite direction of every predecessor in their first year. I think that speaks volumes. I agree that ever since Vietnam news, from any source, should be sieved through anythinng but blinders. If it whiffs of bias, the educated listener will know it. This issue, though, with shovels scooping fulls daily, leaves little to be questioned. Trump (and now it is a family affair) seems to want to bury himself, and thinks that somehow a functioning governance will grow out of it.

A distraction?

Then there are those who say a witch hunt prevents the POTUS from getting things done. It gets in his way. First of all, the GOP controls all three branches of government. More importantly, though, if the “ties to Russia” was a witch hunt, a totally unwarranted accusation, why is such an effort of defense being made? If the accusation was totally baseless why is everyone at the table of Liealot lawyering up? How come no one from the team answer a simple yes or no, an instead give a lengthily explanation of why a meeting happened. Does the idea of protesting too much not raise suspicion for the antithesis?

And this is also no excuse for the failure of a bill. The fact is it was pushed through the house. Minimal thought went into it. It was ever fully read, it was never heard. Trump just sat with pen in hand, waiting to sign a bill, just for the sake of penning his name to a bill. In forty years, who ever still lives on earth will look back and acknowledge how Donald J. Trump signed a health care bill and cut taxes for the super-rich with one stroke. Mazel tov! He'll be a footnote in wikipedia.

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To the Front of the Bus: Movement toward a fair Democracy- review

I thoroughly enjoyed To the Front of the Bus, a must read for the politically curious and anyone who is paying attention to our current state of the country......who we as a nation, and how we got here. As someone who is not well versed in U.S. history, I found Amram's book refreshingly easy to read, the sort of book that can be fodder for discussion for the political novice or political savvy----there is something for everyone on these pages. The "Author's Note" and "Afterword" bookend the social movements which are humanely detailed in the book, and provide moving context for the how the political is always personal. In his latest book, Amram has expanded on his previous Ten Years and Change: a Liberal Boyhood in Minnesota (another excellent read), describing the struggle for equality which has consumed our nation since it's inception. What is most interesting is how Amram seamlessly weaves historical and current events, tying the two together in an effortless read that belies the painful sacrifice and struggle for human rights that continue to this day. There is an incredible amount of research contained here. I often find historical/political non-fiction interesting, but too dry for me personally to get through. To the Front of the Bus is the opposite reading experience, as this book is a compulsively readable page-turner, balancing well documented fact with personal and societal ramifications. I wish I could order a copy for every high school and college classroom in the country, as the truth telling of the "movement toward a fair democracy" is important. Thanks to Michael Amram for his words, which are an inspiring call to action for each one of us to use our voting power wisely and not squander our political and social power. Highly recommend.

Premise of Bus

There is a bus, careening through history, through decades of people moving, being transferred toward a fair Democracy. Like attaining Democracy, seeing it work, reaping its sporadic benefits, a bus stops and continues on, each time furthering a majority, growing stronger. But it also wanes as people are let out, and an interminable cycle of an unfulfilled Democracy (bus) ensues. In To the Front of the Bus: Movement toward a Fair Democracy bus is a metaphor as a method of movement, of protest (freedom rides). It speaks of the forced and willful movements of people throughout history, from the slave trade to the Native Americans' “trail of tears,” to the “great migration,” to the current deportation of immigrants. Bus is used in the literal sense of black Americans' ascension to the front, or anywhere they choose, on buses.

To the Front of the Bus: Movement toward a Fair Democracy follows the transports of three major groups who were denied basic rights as Americans. Their evolutions, their respective revolutions' order was left to be written in history as having been subconsciously prioritized. It was pre-destined, each having made a fluent transition, a natural selection, a humanely appropriate ascension, to the next. First came the removal of chains, the freeing of feet and minds, to fighting a Civil War and decades to win civil rights. Then came the women in their defined movements through decades for suffrage and equal rights. Time had come to pass. The abrogations of blacks and women's injustices readied the minds and streets for the disabled. Both cleared the way (as people on buses often do), expanded human consciousness enough, removed guilt of oppressing the prior groups enough, for the disabled to come out of the institutions and almshouses, to be accepted in society, to speak out for certain rights, and to be able to sit to the front of the bus.

To the front of the Bus: Movement Toward a Fair Democracy

“To the front of the Bus: movement toward a fair democracy follows the transports
of three major groups who were denied basic rights as Americans.
Their evolution, their respective revolutions' order was left to be
written in history as having been subconsciously prioritized. It was
pre-destined, each having made a fluent transition, a natural
selection, a humanely appropriate ascension, to the next. First came
the removal of chains, the freeing of feet and minds, to fighting a
Civil War and decades to win civil rights. Then came the women in
their defined movements through decades for suffrage and equal
rights. Time had come to pass. The abrogation of blacks and women's
injustices readied the minds and streets for the disabled. Both
cleared the way (as people on buses often do), expanded human
consciousness enough, removed guilt of oppressing the prior groups
enough, for the disabled to come out of the institutions and
almshouses, to be accepted in society, to speak out for certain
rights, and to be able to sit to the front of the bus.”

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Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Congenial-speak #34

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To the front of the Bus: Movement Toward a Fair Democracy

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