Get Ready

If the schedule of the confirmation hearings is any judge, expect a lot of bad legislation to come out of congress in coming days and weeks.  This legislation needs to be fought at every turn.  If the ACA's replacement (for example) is anything less than Medicare for all...oppose it.

Oppose all of Trump's cabinet appointments, but particularly Sessions, DeVos, Pruitt, Carson, and Price.  I may be missing some, the lightening speed of the hearings has my brain going in all directions (this is a deliberate effect), but the point is:  Universal opposition can work. 

Get ready to protest, boycott, and be disobedient.  Get ready to call your elected officials more often. 

The left is going to lose far more battles than it will win.  There is no preventing this, but we have to try.  Ultimately if we can tie the Republicans to Trump and vice-versa, and get people to show up to the polls, we will win. 

Podcast 2/13/16: Post NH, Post Superbowl, and We Are Cyborgs

In this episode, Vinny and I discuss our NH primary predictions, the Superbowl, how Debbie Wasserman Schultz is doing her best to destroy the Democratic party, a clarification about the ACA, the last Democratic debate, the future, and more.

There is now a contact form at the bottom of the blog for questions, comments, insults, etc.

http://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-j3sph-5cbb25/download

Notes:

• Jeb Bush getting bumped at the Rotary:

• The Nevada caucus for the Democrats is November 20th and November 23rd for the Republicans 
• The South Carolina Primary for the Democrats is November 27th and November 20th for the Republicans.
• Democratic Party is Pushing Away Its Future http://timesofoman.com/article/76968/Opinion/Columnist/New-Hampshire-event-shows-Democratic-party-establishment-aligning-with-Hillary-Clinton
• Politifacts article about the ACA vs. Heritage Foundation health plan http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2013/nov/15/ellen-qualls/aca-gop-health-care-plan-1993/
• Robot writing articles http://www.wired.com/2015/03/future-news-robots-writing-audiences-one/

NSFW

*Music is brought to you by Bensound.com

Random Acts of Socialism: 1798 An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seaman

By Gilbert Stuart - http://www.cowboybooks.com.au/pictures/JohnAdams.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=91133 (With my socialist addition)

Back at the founding of our country, those great Jesus-like men like John Adams determined that it was in the common good that we provide medical care to sailors coming into port.  Congress mandated a tax on shipping companies of $.20 per-month per-seaman.  With this money, the government set up hospitals at ports and treated those nasty sailors for scurvy, syphilis, and whatever other conditions they had acquired.

This was a blatant act of government interference with free enterprise, setting the stage for many acts of socialism to come.  It starts with treating a few sailors and ends with us all marching to a gulag.

Read the act here:  https://history.nih.gov/research/downloads/1StatL605.pdf