Comments

2

The only bright spot in this is, if you can make as much money as possible now, the looming wall street crash might lead to a drop in home prices, making it possible for anyone saving every penny now to afford a home after the crash.

3

Honestly, I have heard some speculation that some folks who are pro-universal healthcare or -Medicare-for-all are rooting for the upheaval of the ACA because it would potentiate a crisis that could end in a universal healthcare solution. This is because Republicans have no plan whatsoever, and something would need to be done. The outcry would be so strong that it could actually push it through. Obviously it would hurt many people in the short run, but the decreased morbidity and mortality in the long-run could vastly outweight the short-term harm. I personally don't think its going to happen without such a crisis.

Also, I never tire of the salm-bae. It make my-dae.

4

@2: Best time to invest!

5

@3 I tip my hat to you for that chuckle-inducing closing line

I feel a tiny spark of hope that this could be the week we say bye bye Trump. However, I have no hope for what would happen after he's ousted...

6

"Well Billy, when two snow people love each other VERY much..."

7

He didn't create a "Space Force." A "Space Force" colloquially always meant creating a new service branch, and that's how it was reported at the time. A "Space Force" service branch would have been sibling to the Air Force or Navy. What they just created is a Unified Combatant Command, which is a like a formal working arrangement between 2 or more service branches to operate somewhere or cooperate on something. Some of its siblings will be "United States Cyber Command," "United State Africa Command," and the mentioned in the release "United States Strategic Command." So we won't see recruiting commercial for the Space Force.

8

@7: Anyone with brain already knows this, but it is more fun and self-affirming to pretend that Trump is trying to create GI Joe in space.

9

@3,

I've heard that line of reasoning before and perhaps I'm just cynical (I mean, I'm definitely cynical) but I've a hard time believing the right will ever cave on anything remotely resembling Medicare for all. I was out on the Oregon coast a few months ago and listening to some rural right wing talk on the radio and... Man, them people are freaking entrenched, frighteningly so. I'm pretty sure they'd much rather just revert back to pre-ACA style employer based coverage and poor/unemployed folks using the ER as their PCP than acknowledge that they're misinformed on the issue.

10

“It's an effort to better organize and advance the military's vast operations in space that could cost as much as $800 million over the next five years.”

What? A measly $160 mil/year? For a 'Space Force'? That'll barely cover cost-overuns, graft, paying off Pols, and $4K hammers and screwdrivers. I think they 'accidentally' left a zero, or two, off that measly $800 Mil.

11

@9 I agree it would be antithetical to their recent stance of obstructing all things Obama-related, but you have to remember all the ways in which people in general are able to employ cognitive dissonance to distance themselves from their own previously held beliefs. I mean over the course of just a few years, Democrats have become the party of fiscal conservatism and states rights (relatively speaking.) In any case, regardless of their ideological stance, members of the conservative base are disproportionately benefiting from ACA, and it is really hard to take away an entitlement once it has been given. Additionally, private insurance prices will balloon just in anticipation of repeal of ACA affecting everybody, and employer based coverage had already been shrinking for years prior to ACA, and if they can avoid it, companies will avoid offering it if they can, and repeal of ACA will make that easier (I think...) Basically universal healthcare could be pushed through just like the bailout was pushed through (in spite of being ideologically repugnant to all parties) in a moment of existential crisis.

12

@Teddy

"We must have American dominance in space. Very importantly, I'm hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish the Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces. That's a big step..."

"We are going to have the Air Force and we are going to have the Space Force: separate but equal, it is going to be something so important."
- Donald Trump

Anyone with a brain knows what Trump said, but apparently you don't. I'm not saying that makes you an idiot, but you do seem a bit confused.
"GI Joe in space" that is "separate but equal" to the Air Force is incredibly stupid, but that is exactly what Trump said he was creating.

Pretending that Trump said anything else is extremely stupid.
I wouldn't expect anything less from you.
Seriously though, how else would you affirm your self-worth?

13

@8 that is exactly what he and his moronic Fox News proxies claimed. He actually SAID multiple times it was going to be the Sixth Branch of the god damned US military.

15

It is really not my fault or responsibility that you don't know how the USAF organizes or runs itself, or that you were unable to read a short paragraph of an article.

17

@Teddy

You are confused. I understand.
Let me try to put this as simply as possible for you.
Trump said he wanted to create "Space Force", and he said it would be a "separate but equal" branch of the military.
The only people who believed this would happen where Donald Trump and his followers.

I know reading and thinking aren't your strong suit, so you probably won't understand.
That's okay. Christmas Is Almost Here.

Merry Christmas little guy, and have a Happy New Year.

18

3 isn’t that disaster communism, or whatever it’s called?

..They aren’t thinking that if/when ACA is repealed the “community”, which needs no literal definition or, ironically, a communal understanding of the meaning of the phrase will become “stronger”, which again means whatever the, ironically enough, “individual” decides it does, are they?

Right?

You aren’t telling me they genuinely are saying a post-ACA America is going to be different than a pre-ACA America, because crisis?

And that they’re on the same side as Republican America in the matter? Not that?

Right?

19

@3 The GOP don't really need a replacement plan. The pre-ACA private health insurance market provided a veneer of a functional healthcare system for most people by providing cheap policies with lots of fine print that didn't cover anything too expensive. These policies still exists as "short term" policies and if the ACA were completely repealed they could easily step back in. This would be disastrous for people with major health issues of course, but for the relatively healthy majority it'd seem like a win because premiums would plunge.

If we went back to the pre-ACA system I doubt there'd be much impetus for single payer. A large part of the urgency that led to the ACA in the first place (and to Bush 43's feeble healthcare reform attempts) was that in decade of the 2000's the baby boomers were at the age where they were starting to need lots of healthcare but didn't qualify for Medicare yet. The folks in that age range these days and going forward aren't the same sort of political juggernaut.

20

Not a word about Man U finally sacking Mourinho?

21

Didn't the Air Force used to have a Space Command? I thought it was later folded into the Strategic Command.

And you missed this item, Michael: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/18/blind-amphibian-named-after-trumps-climate-change-stance

22

@21:

Yes, it was merged into USSTRATCOM in 2002. So basically, he's just un-incorporated it out of the UCC it was previously incorporated into. But, as @12 points out, this was not what he announced, so either he's completely clueless as to how the branches of the DoD are currently structured - no surprise there - or he was engaging in yet another bait-and-switch scam for the benefit of his base. Either way, he's full of shite, right up to his beady little tanning-bed-goggle-protected eyeballs.

23

@3 et al. This is actually an echo something I heard repeated by Mr. Mudede- that we need a total collapse and crisis to spark transformative action. His context was seattle area transit, but I suppose this is no different really. Stupid and terribly short-sighted, but not different.

24

@14 -- "The budget deficit would explode but that doesn't seem to bother anyone anymore anyway."
(It bothers The Fuck outta Republicans -- but solely when they are NOT in Power.)

It's time for a Transaction Tax on Wall Street. All those Billions,
zapped hither and yon, 'working' so very hard for their Owners --
it's time for massive, tax-free manipulations to finally pay for their keep.

Repealing the illegitimate President's Tax Cuts for Billionaires needs to happen, as well.

25

Hooray for the efforts in place to save our salmon and orcas!
Whoo-EEE! I'm glad I don't need to go anywhere on I-90 eastbound through Snoqualmie Pass. Drive safely, folks! 'Tis the season.
@6 COMTE: LOL---for the WIN! Thanks for the chuckle.
@12 & @17 Adam Kadmon, @13 ProfessorHistory and @22 COMTE: Thank you and bless you.
@16 blip: I know, right? Now if we could just blast Groper In Chief Trump and its followers into outer space for good. It would certainly be for the good of this dying planet and what's left of democracy.
@24 kristofarian: 100% Agreed.


Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.