How Can I Put This Delicately: My, What a Piece of Crap Mike Pence Is.

I just gleefully ran a post on how Mike Pence deserved getting schooled at the "Hamilton" performance. Then I read the whole article I linked to. What a monster you are, Mr. Pence.

Sorry, but the dude seriously gives me the creeps.

Sometimes it's not about politics. We can sort out policies. I like this one, you like that one, this other one not so much. But out-and-out inhumane actions and attitudes, they're a different matter. And Mike Pence has walked in those shadows. From the Mark Joseph Stern article I didn't read well enough:

But when Pence ran for Congress in 2000, he ran on a platform of reversing these life-saving advances. As his “Guide to Renewing the American Dream” explained, Pence had serious concerns about the Ryan White CARE Act, a vital federal program that helped provide medication and treatment to low-income and uninsured AIDS patients. “Congress,” Pence wrote, “should support the reauthorization of the Ryan White Care Act only after completion of an audit to ensure that federal dollars [are] no longer being given to organizations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus.”

Pence, in other words, insisted that no federal funds should go to AIDS organizations that accept homosexuality. Instead, he argued: “Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.” Put simply, Pence wanted to redirect critical HIV funding from AIDS treatment programs to ex-gay conversion therapy—i.e., torture.

The way I read this is pretty simple. Mike Pence was saying lose the gay, or lose your life. Where am I wrong? I can't imagine that I am, and I can't imagine anyone not being repulsed by that. If you aren't, then you are situating yourself in well-fuck-you-then territory, as in fuck you. Go hang with Mike Pence. You deserve each other.

Ashley Feinberg has some advice worth following on this.

"Hamilton" Cast Schools Mike Pence on American Values. Hey, Pence, You Had It Coming.

Incoming VP Mike Pence thought he'd go seen "Hamilton." He didn't expect to get booed, much less read the riot act by the cast.

Calling out hate can be an act of love, of hope. The Hamilton cast got it right.

Pardon me if I'm not as incensed as Donald Trump that one of his cast of bigots got called out by the cast of "Hamilton." Mike Pence is a bigot, and it won't stop here. There are a lot of us who thought America was embracing love and tolerance (most of us still do). Boy, were we wrong, and naturally we're pissed.

Here are some reports worth perusing:

• Huffington Post. Oh, and Trump's elegant, thoughtful reaction.
• NYTimes.
• Washington Post.
• Slate. (Spot on.) Mark Joseph Stern points to Deadspin:

At Deadspin, Ashley Feinberg has a simple, bracing rejoinder to this hand-wringing: Pence is a viciously anti-gay politician who supports ex-gay conversion “therapy,” opposes LGBTQ rights across the board, and signed sadistic anti-abortion laws. “Mike Pence,” Feinberg concludes, “deserves every single bit of disrespect thrown at him, and to be booed absolutely everywhere he goes.”

One place to come from is they started all this, they asked for it. Remember Donald Trump's announcement that he was running?

And:

A real cheery shout-out to minorities and immigrants. So, yes, call them out for their hate and intolerance, early and often. And don't stop. They started this. Here's Trump about "hitting back":

One of the things you should do in terms of success: If somebody hits you, you've got to hit 'em back five times harder than they ever thought possible. You've got to get even. Get even. And the reason, the reason you do, is so important…The reason you do, you have to do it, because if they do that to you, you have to leave a telltale sign that they just can't take advantage of you. It's not so much for the person, which does make you feel good, to be honest with you, I've done it many times. But other people watch and you know they say, "Well, let's leave Trump alone," or "Let's leave this one," or "Doris, let's leave her alone. They fight too hard."  I say it, and it's so important. You have to, you have to hit back. You have to hit back.

Okay, we will. Early and often.

The Anatomy of a Failed Policy: Open Up Federal Land to New Oil, Coal, and Gas Leases!

Okay, Trump isn't even president yet. But all signs are there that he'll open up vast tracts of federal land to new mineral leases. What will happen? He'll crash the markets.

Who needs wilderness when you can have oil and coal?

Even if you aren't a "believer" in global warming, you might have noticed that oil and coal aren't good for you and in fact are a major pain in the ass. Just google "beijing pollution" and check out the pictures. (Here, I'll do it for you.) Or, for good measure, try "new delhi pollution."

Now look at the Alaska wilderness picture above. Which direction should the world be moving in, regardless of the threat of climate change? Now just for fun, google "climate change flooding." Okay, I'll stop proselytizing by digital image now.

But to the point: What's been happening the last few years but a total crash in oil, coal, and natural gas prices? What do producers do when a market goes south, price-wise? You stop producing. So even if you love fossil fuels, you don't get anywhere by expanding production. You'll just further exacerbate the difficulties brought on by over-production in recent years.

And what will you have to show for it? A greater reliance on fossil fuels at a time when we should be pulling away from them? See-saw markets heading from peaks to valleys and back when the new investments should be in wind, wave, solar, and hydro?

Here's my hope -- call it my bet -- for the future: The coming Trump administration opens up vast stretches of federal land for more oil, coal, and mineral leases -- expecting to get the cash for infrastructure spending that won't be there anymore because he lowered corporate taxes, abolished the estate tax, and dropped taxes on the rich to stunningly low levels -- and nobody comes. Or those who do come find themselves, as early adopters of peak fossil-fuel production that begins to crater the markets, needing either to back out or simply shut down, but only after the whole energy scene has been roiled by job cuts and huge populations of dislocated people wondering what to do next.

Do we do this so America can have more gas guzzling monster trucks and SUVs? By the way, you can expect Trump to roll back the new higher fuel economy standards Obama put in place, as well. It's all part of the nightmare. If he's really the new Reagan, he'll also cut subsidies that encourage alternative energy R&D and production.

Hope I'm wrong about this. But it is econ 101, right?

America: You Wanted to Be a White Nation. You Are Again. Congrats.

We hear a lot of talk about white nationalism, and there's a reason. America voted to return to the 50s. The 1850s is more like it.

Donald Trump might find a minority, even a woman, to fill his cabinet.
But with the early picks, the damage is done and the message sent.

Republicans have spent the past few years suppressing minority voting. The fight against that suppression -- except during the George W. Bush years when the Civil Rights division of the DOJ was a hotbed of voter suppression -- has been led by the Department of Justice. The appointment of Jeff Sessions is meant to signal a return to disenfranchisement. But there's more.

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III -- hell, his name is a message in and of itself* -- is also an enemy of immigration, which for Donald Trump is a feature, not a bug. It's going to be a strange trip, watching what happens in the coming years. It's hard to anticipate just what the level of antipathy toward minorities and immigrants will be, but chances are it won't be pretty.

It won't be pretty especially because the devil, if you will, sitting on Donald Trump's shoulder in the White House will be Stephen Bannon, whose reputation for white nationalism and antisemitism is well-documented. Bannon is set to be Trump's chief strategist and counselor, and it's unlikely he's going to be whispering, "Hey, Donald, lighten up on minorities and immigrants. Hell, they're people, too."

Add Mike Pompeo at the C.I.A. and General Mike Flynn and you've got the beginnings of a clusterfuck of Trumpists indeed.

And just to ruin your day if civil rights is your cup of tea, don't forget that Mike Pence is the new Joe Biden and not the same as the old one. Pence is the outright enemy of all things LBGTQ and has well proved that in his home state of Indiana.

And we're just getting started. There are a lot of people worried across America, and they've got a right to be. And we're just getting started. Let's finish with a bit of realism from Charles P. Pierce of Esquire:

It's a sad moment for this country when the best hope you have for an incoming administration is that it will be able to jettison the racism and xenophobia that was its primary fuel while fulfilling the impossible economic promises that it has made. If that doesn't happen, and the impossible economic promises do not come to pass, only the racism and xenophobia will be all that's left and over the weekend, we learned that they will have a friend at the apex of our government [Stephen Bannon] to keep them warm.

Yikes. I'm white, and I don't want to live here anymore, and Canada is way cold. I'm screwed.

*Sessions was named after Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, and P.G.T. Beauregard, the general who led the attack of Fort Sumter that started the Civil War and who was also responsible for the creation of the Confederate battle flag, yes, that flag. And notice the III at the end. His family liked the name so much there are three generations of them.

Trump Loves Living in a Post-Truth World (He Practically Invented It).

The Oxford Dictionaries named "post-truth" the word of the year. Holy crap, are they right.

I didn't tell the truth during the campaign. Why start now?

Ford said months ago it was shifting the production of one model to Mexico to lower costs. It also said that it wasn't closing any plants or cutting any jobs because of the move, since it would simply increase production of another model. Sounds good.

Now Ford has decided not to make the move. Again, no change in the number of plants or jobs.

Trump tweets that it was his idea, that he pressured Ford to stay (remember, they were never leaving, but...).

So, not true, but some news outlets just published stories about it as if it were. Here's the real story from Josh Marshall:

“Just got a call from my friend Bill Ford, Chairman of Ford, who advised me that he will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky - no Mexico,” Trump tweeted. “I worked hard with Bill Ford to keep the Lincoln plant in Kentucky. I owed it to the great State of Kentucky for their confidence in me!”

Not so: Ford Motor Company operates two plants in the state, neither of which had planned on moving to Mexico. On Thursday night, Ford announced that one of its plants in the Bluegrass State, the Louisville Assembly Plant, would continue manufacturing the Lincoln MKC, the production of which they had previously considered moving to Mexico.

Even if production of that one model had moved to Mexico, the Louisville plant would not have lost any jobs, according to a statement from the company last November. Employees at the Louisville plant would have simply shifted to producing more Ford Escapes.

Many news outlets reprinted Trump’s claim Thursday night, and some continued to propagate it Friday morning.

Post-truth, what a concept. What a reality.

Paul Ryan's Dream to Scuttle Medicare Is Within His Grasp.

The closest to guaranteed healthcare regardless of wealth -- and reserved only for seniors -- has rankled Republicans for decades. Now they're coming after it.

Yes, it says right on the card "IS ENTITLED TO," and that makes it
an entitlement, as in "entitled to live, regardless of how rich you are."

Paul Ryan has had the destruction of Medicare in his sights for several years now, so ignore how he'll dissemble and call it something else. He'll call it:

• Medicare modernization
• premium support
• fixing Medicare
• won't happen to people over 55 (or some such age)
• saving Medicare from Obamacare
• entitlement reform

But none of that is true or, if true, necessary. Let's be clear: Paul Ryan wants to turn Medicare into private insurance that the government will then support with vouchers that seniors then use to pay for said private insurance. Get that? He adds a layer of costs that add nothing to coverage. What?

We all lose, that's what. Paul Krugman explains it well:

It has been obvious for a long time that Medicare is actually more efficient than private insurance, mainly because it doesn’t spend large sums on overhead and marketing, and, of course, it needn’t make room for profits.

What’s not widely known is that the cost-saving measures included in the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, have been remarkably successful in their efforts to “bend the curve” — to rein in the long-term rise in Medicare expenses. In fact, since 2010 Medicare outlays per beneficiary have risen only 1.4 percent a year, less than the inflation rate. This success is one main reason long-term budget projections have dramatically improved.

So why try to destroy this successful program, which is in important respects doing better than ever? The main answer, from the point of view of people like Mr. Ryan, is probably that Medicare is in the cross hairs precisely because of its success: It would be very helpful for opponents of government to do away with a program that clearly demonstrates the power of government to improve people’s lives.

Josh Marshall flagged the lie at the heart of Paul Ryan's new push:

PAUL RYAN: Well, you have to remember, when Obamacare became Obamacare, Obamacare rewrote medicare, rewrote medicaid. If you are going to repeal and replace Obamacare, you have to address those issues as well. What a lot of folks don't realize is this 21-person board called the ipap is about to kick in with price controls on Medicare. What people don't realize is because of Obamacare, medicare is going broke, medicare is going to have price controls because of Obamacare, medicaid is in fiscal straits. You have to deal with those issues if you are going to repeal and replace Obamacare. Medicare has serious problems [because of] Obamacare. Those are part of our plan.

There are a couple key points to note here.

First, Ryan claims that Obamacare has put Medicare under deeper financial stress. Precisely the opposite is true. And it's so straightforward Ryan unquestionably knows this. The Affordable Care Act actually extended Medicare's solvency by more than a decade. Ryan's claim is flat out false.
Second, I've heard a few people say that it's not 100% clear here that Ryan is calling for Medicare Phase Out. It is 100% clear. Ryan has a standard, openly enunciated position in favor of Medicare Phase Out. It's on his website. It's explained explicitly right there.

Barack Obama was all there was between the Republican plan to gut Medicare and their actually doing it. Though Trump stated explicitly that "I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican and I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid,” during his campaign, Ryan is going whole hog on his Medicare destruction plan. What are the odds Trump will veto it? For seniors who depend on affordable healthcare for their very survival, it's a frightening prospect to see it weakened.

Remember, folks: If Republicans succeed in privatizing Medicare (and raising the eligibility age) as well as repealing or gutting Obamacare, people will have less or no insurance and people will die, and that will be measurable. When we start to see the deaths rack up, it'll be too late. Stop it now. Completely. Make Donald Trump keep his campaign promises.

Read this line:

You only deserve the healthcare you can afford.

Does that sound American? Unfortunately, maybe yes.

What a Chinese Climate-Change Hoax Looks Like When It's Actually Not a Hoax

When it comes to climate change, the truth is not kind to Republican climate-change deniers. That's, er, why they deny.

"Holy inconvenience, Batman, that red line is 2016!

Climate change is one of those "if it looks like a duck" realizations. No amount of snowballs in the Senate can make light of what's happening. It also quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, so we're in fucking hot water. I suppose we could always deny the statistics...oh wait.

Um, where did all of the Arctic and Antarctic sea ice just go? Into the ocean, is seems. New satellite data show the total area of global sea ice dipping wayyy below the National Snow and Ice Data Center's record for this time of year.

In fact, Arctic sea ice has dropped well below the next-lowest seasonal extent ever observed (which was in 2012). That year’s all-time record low was narrowly avoided in September, the month when Arctic sea ice levels typically are at their lowest. But the fact that ice levels are lower now than they were this same time in 2012 is part of what makes this latest data so alarming.

Meanwhile, Antarctic sea ice is also much lower than usual at the end of the Southern Hemisphere’s winter.

That won't stop Donald Trump continuing his line that the Chinese have the vast majority of scientists hoodwinked.

The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012

That hasn't stopped the Chinese from giving Trump the what-for. In fact, China is ready to go all-in with fighting climate change. They realize it's in their people's best interest to have a livable planet. I wonder why Republicans -- and their followers, gulp! -- are so against our species' survival? Oh, I forgot. The Rapture. Holy crap...


Note. Reality bites: After Ronald Reagan rejected alternative energy sources -- he famously removed Jimmy Carter's solar panels from the White House roof -- other countries profited by the U.S. refusal to embrace the various alternative-energy industries. China easily outproduces the U.S on solar panels, Germany far outpaces the world in solar energy production, Denmark rules in wind power production, and diminutive Portugal has a decent head start in wave power.

Now, here's the real question for the Party Who Hates Climate Change and Loves Oil and Coal: ISN'T THIS BAD FOR BUSINESS? (answer is yes)

Tesla/Solar City's Elon Musk, among others, are betting that new and better batteries will transform solar into something yu-u-uge. Hopefully, they're right and we make strides back in the USA to revitalize alt-energy businesses. Of course, Elon Musk is from South Africa...