So…Qatar (rhymes with ‘guitar’) wants to “give” 47 a luxury plane, a Boeing 747 that has been fitted out to the most opulent (read: gaudy) standard. The MAGA lie is that the plane is being gifted to the Department of Defense, not the Don of Destruction. They want to gloss over the fact that, should Donny leave office, the plane will leave with him and become the property of his presidential library foundation.

On paper, the plane will always “belong” to someone else. In reality, only The Felon will enjoy the use of the thing. Have you ever read the US Constitution? You really should. It has some good stuff in it, things like this: “no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”

That’s called the ‘Emoluments Clause.’ It was put into the original Constitution (you “originalists”) in an effort to keep foreign governments from bribing American officials. Obviously, THIS “official” likes… wants… needs to be bribed to get him to do anything except play golf. I think a $400 million dollar airplane qualifies as a “present,” but I’ve still got it down as a “bribe.”

Fortunately, lying Leavitt has pronounced that all of the cronies and bootlickers that toady up to the Drumpfster and are incapable of defying him have declared that if Dear Leader wants it, it’s legal, so just don’t you worry. So HE gets a $400 million dollar plane and YOU get… to lose your health care and Social Security.

Yes, I know MAGA is a cult, enthralled to this nightmare but even THEY must have noticed how much nicer life is getting for their ‘Precious’ and how much more difficult it’s getting for them. Even MAGA can’t keep blaming Joe Biden forever.
“Oh, yes, we can! Nothing is ever our beloved’s fault – most especially the things he does!”

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I’ve been watching the way 47’s boneheaded tariffs have been playing out. Like most people, I’ve noticed the vast empty spaces where ships were supposed to be offloading. I’ve listened to reports of idled dockworkers and truck drivers. But I’ve been playing closer attention to the China/US “talks.” The lying officials from the US have been insisting that China and the US are in talks on a trade deal. China has been steadfast in denying any such talks are occurring.

At one point, Team Evil started announcing that China is trying to call them, that China is desperate to make a deal. Some insider revealed that, no, in fact, the US is desperately trying to call China to make a deal and China wasn’t picking up the phone. It seems that while Donny was trying to figure out his next “4D Chess” move, China was just sitting back, waiting for idled dockworkers and truck drivers to hit the news. Donny lies to try to manipulate the news cycle, China sits quietly while the stock market ticks down.

Eventually, the US found out where in the world a Chinese official was going to be and they sent an envoy of their own. Now there’s going to be a 90-day “pause” in Donny’s self-inflicted trade war. Tariffs will be lowered, not removed. A Chinese spokesperson rebuked 47’s regime when he said, “We hope that the US side will, based on this meeting, continue to move forward in the same direction with China, completely correct the erroneous practice of unilateral tariff hikes, and continually strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation.”

“…completely correct the erroneous practice of unilateral tariff hikes…” That’s diplomat talk for “Stop with your stupid trade manipulations!” In short, China decided to let Donny off the hook. Now they just need to wait and see exactly how stupid he actually is. Will he stand down on his failed trade war or will his unmanageable, uncontainable ego get in the way again and cause him to double down?

In short, 47 is admitting defeat. We know how he handles things like that. Expect him to come out LOUDLY proclaiming his “victory” and how he totally handled his opposition. He just won’t mention that he “handled” them by giving them what they wanted while getting nothing he wanted. Is surrender REALLY the only game he has?

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The Felon was forced to withdraw his nominee for Surgeon General because the person he chose had some “issues” with her credentials. Issues? Yeah, she lied about them. She mislead everyone about where she went to school and how long it took her to get through. Obviously, putting forward a name with problematic credentials won’t work. Fortunately, Donny fixed that.

He put forward a person who has no credentials at all. None. Zip. Zilch. According to THAT standard, I could be Surgeon General. You really wouldn’t want that. You’ve got to give him credit for one thing: he has an amazing ability to be laser focused on finding exactly the wrong person, the least qualified, and/or the person who hates that function of government the most – and putting them in charge of the section where they least belong…

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It’s important to remember, especially if you live in a red state: red states take more help from the US government than they give. More residents of red states than blue states are dependent on, say, the Affordable Care Act if they want to go to the doctor. I don’t mention this in any kind of “neener, neener” way. It’s a simple fact residents of red states had better start thinking about soon, since they’re about to lose their health care.

Congress is about to eliminate $880 billion dollars in Medicaid funding to they can extend tax cuts for wealthy people. The big GOP lie on THIS issue is that they’ve found $880 billion dollars in fraud, waste, and abuse. They haven’t. They just want the tax cut and if they’re going to get it by being cruel to those least able to defend themselves, they’d better pretend there’s a good reason, right?

The masses NEED the Medicaid funding to see a doctor when they need to. The rich people don’t need tax cuts. Sure, they WANT them. But they don’t need them. Several of the red states have “trigger laws.” A “trigger law” is a law written to become active based on a certain event.

In this case, the “event” is the reduction in funding for the Affordable Care Act the cons are pushing through right now. When that passes, Medicaid funding drops and the trigger laws take effect and the Affordable Care Act is canceled. How many millions of people will suddenly find themselves without heath care?

I’ll tell you this: if you’re willing to die just so some rich S.O.B. can have yet another tax break, you really shouldn’t be allowed outside without supervision…