Ideas, Opinions, Genealogy, and Book Reviews
Is Republican blackmail too strong a way to describe the current negotiation to avoid a government shutdown? I don’t think so. Here’s why.
Just last month a deal was made to avoid a shutdown with another continuing resolution, the third continuing resolution for the fiscal year which just began October 1, less than 4 months ago. Continue reading “Republican blackmail”
Governor Tom Wolf has prevented anti-choice forces of Pennsylvania from are restricting the rights of women and their doctors with PA SB 3.
Thank you, Governor Wolf.
Why do Republicans fear a debate?
When it was apparent that the disasterous party-line FCC ruling which eliminated net neutrality was coming, Rep. Sean Maloney (D-NY18) introduced H.R.4585 – the Save Net Neutrality Act of 2017.
It was promply bottled-up in commitee. A few days ago the Democrats tried to forcent to have a floor debate on the bill which was voted down by the Republicans.
Why do Republicans fear a debate? Why do they not want freedom of choice?
Back when the Retired Guy was much younger, the comedian George Carlin told us about seven words he could not say on TV. The seven words were considered “dirty” and too vulgar for broadcast over the airwaves of the United States. A few years earlier the comedian Lenny Bruce had been arrested for using these words (and 2 more) in a public performance. See Seven dirty words on Wikipedia for more detail.
Continue reading “Seven words you cannot say”
The Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2017 has been introduced in both the House and the Senate. Seems to be a simple issue. Who can be against voting rights? Well, maybe it not quite so simple. Maybe Republicans are against it and they are in charge now.
Continue reading “Voting Rights Advancement Act”
The anti-choice forces are again trying to restrict abortion rights with PA SB 3.
Not much has changed except they are trying again. Read something new and what I had to say about this when they tried in February.
Why net neutrality? Freedom of choice is the short answer. And by that I mean our choice. Not the choice forced on us by the company that provides our internet service. I wrote about this freedom at some length last month so I won’t repeat those arguments here.
Continue reading “Net neutrality could soon be gone”
It seems we have quite a few reverse Robin Hoods in the US Senate.
Remember Robin Hood. Rob from the rich and give to the poor. But that was back in the old days.
Modern Republicans are trying to rob from the poor and give to the rich. The Congresssional Budget Office (CBO) report is out on their tax bill and it confirms this.
Continue reading “Reverse Robin Hoods of the Senate”
Net neutrality, it’s not just for nerds. It sounds like kind of a technical thing but most of us should care.
Why? Freedom of choice is the short answer. And by that I mean our choice. Not the choice forced on us by the company that provides our internet service.
Continue reading “Net Neutrality is almost gone”
The full title is “A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes “ . Adam Rutherford is hardly a household name at least here in the US. But I hope it will be a name that people looking for good science writing will remember.
Continue reading “A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived by Adam Rutherford”
I just ran across this article. It is a few days old but seems to capture the essence of the GOP congress: Move fast and don’t let facts get in the way.
The full title is The Republican tax bill is moving through Congress at light speed and the subtitle is
The GOP’s playbook: Move fast and don’t let facts get in the way. It was published in Vox a few days ago and is specifically about tax plans but does capture the general GOP approach in this Congress.
We have previously seen a similar approach fail on healthcare. My hope is that it fails again. i would like to see tax reform but I believe this is an important issue and deserves a full debate on the merits of various measures. Move slowly enough to consider the facts and possible consequences of your actions.
Both houses of Congress have their own tax plan. Each rushed through quickly with little of the input you would expect in major legislation.
The House version has already been passed. There will be a vote on the Senate version in the very near future. In my opinion, neither is good.
But here is one opinion on the Senate version. Of course, it could change before the vote but my guess is it will not be for the better.
Read it all, but here is just a small portion –
Surely, we will have other debates in the future with thoughtful arguments on every side. But not this time. The numbers are in and it’s clear: this tax bill helps the rich and hurts everybody else. Just ask the very people who wrote it.
Russian security at the US Embassy in Moscow. What could go wrong?
Elite Security was founded by a former head of the KGB. At one time he was Vladimir Putin’s boss in the Russian spy agency. But Elite Security was given a multi-million dollar contract to provide security services at the US Embassy in Moscow.
Continue reading “Russian security at our Russian embassy”
The national Republican party has mislead us for years but it has grown especially intense recently (see my previous posts on Donald Trump). In general, my local Republican Party in Chester County, Pennsylvania seemed to me to be a fairly responsible bunch.
However, the recent “Chester County Republican Gazzette” seemed very misleading. Pennsylvania has a contitutional amendment on the ballot tomorow and I have not been able to make up my mind on it. But the recent “Gazette” seems highly misleading on this in my opinion. This makes me doubt the rest of what they say.
Continue reading “Local Pennsylvania Republicans mislead”
The Senate is ready to confirm the unscientific chief scientist. I was about to say an unqualified chief scientist but then I thought that he did have the one qualifier that matters in this case. That is, the support of President Trump and a Republican majority in the Senate that seems to approve the President’s nomininees, irrespective or qualifications or suitability.
The Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics is better known as the chief scientist of the Department of Agriculture.
Continue reading “The unscientific chief scientist”