"Eventually everyone who was in that nursing home will die,
-- Florida state Sen. Dennis Baxley (R-Ocala), defending 14 deaths during Hurricane Irma, after 4 emergency calls were made to Gov. Rick Scott without response.

No, really, he said that.  And yes, this is a now officially a nominee for Quote of the Year.

Ladies and gents, meet your Florida Republican Party!  Steeped in philosophy.  Of course, what they understand is that we ALL will eventually die -- so that explains the Trump Policy in Puerto Rico, which is just rushing the date up a bit, perhaps to make room for all those in the Northern California wildfires.

And in Hurricane Harvey.  And the Pacific Northwest wildfires.  And the four Green Berets killed last week which Trump as yet to mention.  As he hasn't yet mentioned the California fires either.  And Trump trying to get rid of health care, period.  It's a Lion King animated cartoon sort of thing, the Circle of Life. Or maybe more Woody Guthrie-related, harkening back to that Weavers song I've been posting, "So Long, It's Been Good to Know You."

Or maybe it's just Dickensian. Decrease the surplus population and all that Bah, Humbug stuff.  Though, of course, if one carries this philosophy to its logical, full conclusion, that we ALL will eventually die, it decreases the entire population....

But it does make one thing more clear.  No wonder Republicans tried to make such a big deal about the non-existent "Death Panel." They thought it was a waste of time, and had a better plan to save money naturally, as God intended.

UPDATE:  There's a "fun" addendum to all this.  A friend of mine who knows a good deal about Florida politics told me a Fun Fact about State Senator Dennis Baxley (R-Ocala).  It turns out that the dear man himself owns six funeral homes!  So, it's in his best interest to look forward to people dying. No wonder he's okay with all those deaths!  It's where get his business...

​

Hmm, okay, so let's get this straight. Trump is happy to call a black NFL quarterback a "son of a bitch" and say that someone like that should be fired for exercising his 1st Amendment rights -- while also telling us that there are some very fine people who march with the Nazis and KKK.  The more he speaks, the more I think that the whole "He's a white supremacist" narrative has a chance of building up steam...

It speaks volumes about how little Ann Coulter is thought of these days when she can call for "Death Squads" against immigrants, and pretty much no one cares.  And yes, she did actually say that.  You can read it here.  Though you might want to wear protective eye gear so that your eye balls don't sear off.  And maybe have a barf bag handy.

It would be fascinating if a monumental mass of NFL players all protest Trump calling one of their members a "son of a bitch:and on Sunday kneel in support of their fellow-member. In fact, here's hoping that happens. The protest, to be clear, would not be against the Anthem or Flag, but of Trump.

It's been pretty clear to me for a while that the GOP push for this insane TrumpCare bill -- that is opposed by pretty much every major health care organization and the insurance industry -- has nothing to do with health care. It's that by repealing the Affordable Care Act, hundreds of millions of dollars will be freed up, allowing Republicans to cut corporate taxes.  And now come reports that big GOP donors are telling senators that is precisely what they want.

Still waiting on Trump to finally at least mention the wildfires that devastated the Pacific Northwest. And it would be really nice if he made clear that he actually had serious concern and was taking action for Puerto Rico almost being wiped off the map.  Never mind that it's a U.S. territory and 3.5 million American citizens live there.

I've long-thought that the Republican push for repealing the Affordable Care Act is just bizarrely counterproductive for the GOP.  It only has something like 12% support in the country.  If Republicans do get this latest attempt passed (which has had far-more angry criticism from both the healthcare and insurance industries), there will be overwhelming outrage from the public, including from their base which may be hurt more than anyone.  

Joe Scarborough said something similar on his MSNBC show on Thursday.  “Have that process, have those hearings, let the senators, let the congressmen hear who is going to be hurt by the bill, instead of just seeing this in stories six months after a bill passes.  I promise you, Republicans, you’re the ones that are going to pay in the end. You think I’m being a son of a bitch right now? No, you should listen to me. What you’re doing is radical, and you will end up paying horribly in the end. I don’t know what pressure you think you are under right now (but) wait until you go back to your voters supporting this bill. It’s inhumane.”

How quaint that Mr. Scarborough used the very same "son of a bitch," as Trump, though in his case without being stupid or a bully.  I guess it's the phrase of the week.

The best tweet of last night came from Teresa Kaepernick, mother of Colin, that quarterback who Trump slammed yesterday.  She wrote, "Guess that makes me a proud bitch."

By the way, this whole TrumpCare bill is a rock-and-a-hard place for Republicans. If the pass it with only 12% approval and throw 30 million people off healthcare, the public (including their base) will take it out on them.  But if they don't pass it, their base will be furious that they did nothing.  What they should have done is continue the bipartisan work that Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray were doing to fix issues in the Affordable Care Act.  It would have pleased the public -- though upset their big donors.

Between Trump calling for the firing of an ESPN host and also an NFL quarterback, it seems like he's going in the wrong direction with the whole job market thing.  Maybe he just misses hosting The Apprentice.  As for suggesting that the NFL quarterback should be fired, someone should tell Trump that thus far no team in the league has hired him.  So, it's almost like he got his wish.

And that's the news.  Or as much of it as I can bear typing about at the moment...

Since Republican officials keep trying to hit back at Jimmy Kimmel, he keeps responded.  And last night had his third terrific monologue on the TrumpCare bill, written by senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy.

My only disappointment is that he taped earlier in the evening.  That's because later in the night -- are you ready? -- the MedicAid Directors of ALL 50 STATES (!!) came out against the TrumpCare bill. All of them. Red states and Blue states. Every single one.  Yes, even Alabama.  And Arkansas.  And South Carolina -- Lindsey Graham's home state.  And Louisiana -- Bill Cassidy's home state.  Every last state in the union.  They are ALL AGAINST the TrumpCare bill.  All 50 states.  Honestly, I didn't think you could get all 50 states to agree on anything, including liking puppies. But -- in case the import of this wasn't clear, to repeat -- the MedicAid Directors of all 50 states ​announced they were ALL against the TrumpCare bill.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's sure would seem to make it much harder to justify and defend. Not that most Republican senators will try.

And of course, this doesn't count pretty much all the major healthcare organizations and insurance industry being against it. But then, what do they know...?

By the way, I'm being polite when I say "pretty much all."  Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Eugene Robinson was on MSNBC last night and said he had spent the day trying to track down healthcare organizations who were for the bill -- and he couldn't find one.

Which brings us back to Jimmy Kimmel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUH0KQ1qMiw

He's ba-ack.

After Jimmy Kimmel's blistering monologue Tuesday night where he tore into the Graham-Cassidy health care bill and particularly co-sponsor Bill Cassidy (R-LA) for lying to him, the segment got a great deal of attention yesterday.  A good deal with praise, particularly from families with healthcare concerns, but also some criticism, most notably on Fox and also the bill's co-sponsors.

So, Kimmel came back last night with a response -- in fairness, showing the criticism and answering it, but being just as withering as before, if not more so.  He also included a "Barrista Theater" comedy sketch to help explain some problems with the bill.  And the monologue went on for an impressive 10 minutes.

As I said yesterday, for a fellow who postured his career as a goofball shlub, not bad.
​

Jimmy Kimmel began his TV career as pretty much a goofball shlub.  And that's still been how he's developed his persona.  But a funny thing happened on the way to the public forum.  While Kimmel still have the goofball shlub in him, he's also turned in some thoughtful interviews and -- more to the point -- become outspoken and thoughtful on healthcare.

This is from his opening monologue last night.  You may love what he has to say -- or hate it.  But it's hard not to look at it think this is the work of a goofball shlub, but someone who has put a lot of blunt, outspoken thought into a political issue that's deeply important to you.
​

Y'know, just thinking in retrospect, after watching John McCain's vote to kill TrumpCare, but maybe Trump's whole, "I like people that weren't captured" line during the primaries wasn't such a great idea, after all.

And watching Lisa Murkowski's vote to kill TrumpCare, maybe when the Republicans wanted Lisa Murkowski out of the Senate and ran a Tea Party candidate against her in the Alaska primary and beat her -- only to have her run as a write-in candidate and win, that might not have been such a great idea either.

And maybe having the Secretary of the Interior thrilled to be able to swagger with the awesome power of the presidency behind him and call United States Senator Lisa Murkowski up to threaten the entire state of Alaska, that doesn't seem all that great of an idea looking back.

Who knew?  The old bromide, "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it" actually has a lot of truth to it.  Go figure.

By the way, I'm not saying that their remembering slams of the past is what caused anyone to vote the way they did.  Though I suspect that if there was any uncertainty in a person's mind how to vote and "party loyalty" and "loyalty to the president" were being pushed on them, then my sense is that they weren't as strong arguments as might have been otherwise...

Important and terrific as it was that the horrific TrumpCare bill didn't pass, it's critical to always keep in mind that it shouldn't have come this close.  Forgetting even the damage that this bill would have done, to have almost passed a bill that wouldn't impact one-sixth of the U.S. economy and which pretty much no one knew what was even it is a shameful, reprehensible way for elected officials to act, whatever the bill was about.  And it seems to have probably been done not because of the merits of the bill -- again, most senators didn't even know what was in the bill until just before, and even once they knew, hardly time to study it -- but rather out of spite against Barack Obama because he...well, who knows?, because he was Barack Obama.  Perhaps being different is enough.  Being different seems to be a scary thing in the very conservative Republican Party.

Did the bill fail just because John McCain came down with a horrible, life-threatening diagnosis the week before and he faced mortality and the consequences of healthcare and voted "No"?  Is that what saved healthcare of tens of millions of people?  And saved the lives of unknown many?  Would he have voted "No" anyway?  Unless John McCain explains the answer, we don't know.  All we know is that it came down to one vote, and that may well have been the vote.

It seems that this ill-conceived action of pushing TrumpCare may well backfire profoundly on the Republican Party. On the one hand, the base will be furious that the party couldn't repeal that healthcare bill by the black guy, despite controlling the White House, Senate and House, after seven years of promising.  And on the other hand, the 83% of the rest of the country who hated the TrumpCare bill will hate that the Republican Party tried to pass it and came within a vote of doing so.

And I suspect that the GOP is still going to keep trying to pass it again, in same harmful form, for soul-crushing reasons known only to them.

But at least for now, they lost.  And all 46 Democrats, along with both Independents, and three Republicans were responsible, 49-51.

The Tweetstorm awaits.  Followed by the next Anthony Scaramucci meltdown.

I love how the Republican Party actually, bizarrely listened to Ted Cruz of all people for some unknown reason and for perhaps the first time since he became a senator and the most-hated man in the Senate-- only to have his amendment (not shockingly) turn the already-disastrous TrumpCare bill into a total meltdown.

The whole supposed-reason for this bill has been to suggest (wrongly) how insurance companies supposedly all hate the ACA and supposedly are all pulling out of the program, but now they've got these very insurance companies ACTUALLY up in arms over the TrumpCare bill and outraged. ​

Who'd have thought that following the advice of Ted Cruz this would be the result...

I don't generally watch shows like America's Got Talent, or Little Big Shots, though occasionally I see a video that stands out.  And this is a yowzer.

It's from Little Big Shots, which seems to be about little kids, but this is the opposite, a woman named Johanna who is 91 years old -- and does gymnastics!!!  They've sub-titled this edition, "Forever Young."  That doesn't do it justice.

Now, normally, even at that, I might admired it a lot, but not necessarily even watch.  But given all the time I've spent the last few years at the independent living residence where my folks lived, with most people there generally in their late-80s and 90s -- and some in their 100s -- my perspective on the video and lady is very pronounced.  

People walk very slowly -- very slowly.  A great many use walkers, some motorized carts.  A couple years ago, one of my dad's friends in his late 80s was extremely proud to point out that when he dresses, he's able to put his pants on standing up, without holding on to anything and not loosing his balance.  (This really is impressive.)  My dad was 96 when he passed away, and for his last couple years was able to get around very slowly with a walker, but even that was difficult and tended to be fairly immobile.  (It was less a pure physical issue, but more related to congenital heart disease.  But that's one of the realities many face when hitting their 90s.)

Which is why I don't just link this video merely stands out, but I watch it in near-disbelieving awe.  I particularly like that the director had the good sense to periodically cut to host Steve Harvey for his reaction.  And there's nothing show-biz here, as might be the case when he's reacting to some cute little kids.  No, this is pure reality.  You can see it in his face and eyes, and how he turns to others to respond.  And you know it's his reaction because it's how you most-probably feel.  It's like -- what???!!

I like too that they bring someone out at the end.  I won't give it away, but I was glad to see that the woman, Johanna, immediately recognized the surprise.  And glad to see the person's reaction was just much in awe and said all the right things. 

It is not a great idea to scarf a lot of walnuts and then guzzle several glasses of water at 10:30 in the evening, not long before you go to bed.  It will bode for a really bad night.

Our Motto
"We do personal research for the benefit others, so that you don't have to."
-- The Management