“Big And Beautiful” Legislation

Government Paralyzed As Health Care Costs Skyrocket!

Ronald 6 Comments

The US government is under lockdown, while Donald Trump has been gallivanting all over Asia, ignoring the reality of massive health care cost increases, due to the passage by the MAGA Republican Party majority in Congress of the so called “Big and Beautiful Bill”, which gave massive tax cuts to corporations and billionaires.

With massive cuts to Medicaid, SNAP (Food Stamps) for 42 million people, and the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), it means tens of millions of lower middle class and poor Americans will face hunger, and lack of health care protections, a totally outrageous and cruel reality.

No one in America should face hunger and starvation, or inability to have medical coverage, in a nation which professes the “right to life” of fetuses, but once born, no concern on the part of the Republican Party and Donald Trump.

Horrible Tragedy: Gutting Of So Many Federal Commitments And Agencies!

Ronald 7 Comments

Six months have passed since the second Trump Presidency began, and it is now perfectly clear that Donald Trump has waged total war on the federal government, both commitments of long duration, and of agencies and departments of long standing.

The Republican Party in Congress, and the Supreme Court six member majority, are complicit in these horrendous actions.

USAID (US Agency For International Development), which provided life saving aid to millions of poor people, including particularly children, around the world, has been destroyed.

PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Program For Aids Relief), the major accomplishment of former President George W. Bush, which saved at least 26 million lives in Africa from the AIDS epidemic, has been gutted.

The Department of Education, created under President Jimmy Carter after being part of a combined agency under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a commitment to federal engagement in education standards and support, has been cut dramatically.

FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), created under President Jimmy Carter, had been on the chopping block until the recent Texas Flood Disaster, but still is in danger of being eliminated, as the federal government is moving toward leaving weather and natural disasters to the states to handle on their own.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service, created under Republican President Richard Nixon, are both crucial agencies facing massive cuts in personnel and ability to do their work to protect Americans.

Public funding of NPR and PBS, one tenth of one percent of the federal budget, is being cut completely.

Medicaid and SNAP (Food Stamps), both coming about under President Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s, are suffering massive cuts, which will affect, in particular, rural states, but overall, the disabled, the elderly, and poor children, a total travesty!

Tens of thousands of federal employees in a multitude of agencies have lost their jobs, and with it, the federal goverment loses their generations of expertise on all kinds of issues of national security, health care, environmental protections, and so many other roles the federal government has engaged in since the Progressive Era, the New Deal, the Great Society, and commitments by Presidents of both parties in the past 50 years since the 1970s.

Lisa Murkowski And Don Bacon Disappoint Those Who Thought They Had Basic Principles!

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When one looks at the cave in of Congressional Republicans on the “Big And Beautiful” Bill that just passed Congress, wiping out a lot of “The Great Society” of Lyndon B. Johnson from six decades ago, what particularly disturbs is that only three Senators and two House members voted against the legislation.

Had one more US Senator and two more House members voted against, the legislation would have failed, and would have had to go back for further consideration and modification, hopefully making it less onerous.

It is amazing how members of both houses of Congress, that were opposed to adding to the deficit, and those who made clear their concern about the Medicaid Cuts, still went ahead and voted for the Senate bill, which was more extreme than the House bill.

So called “principled” Republicans demonstrated that they were NOT “Profiles in Courage”, and two come to mind.

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon both seemed to be people of principle, who would stand up for the needs of their constituents and the nation at large.

But both failed to do so, and now makes this author and blogger look at both as no longer believable, and really, no better than the multitude of Congressional Republicans surrounding them!

Independence Day 2025 NOT A Day To Celebrate, As America Is In Constitutional Crisis!

Ronald 3 Comments

Today is the 249th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and it should be a day of celebration.

But it is extremely difficult to feel excitement or thrills, as America is on the cusp of Fascist authoritarianism after nearly six months of the second Donald Trump Presidency.

With many corporations, the Republican party in Congress, the Supreme Court, and some of the news media, kowtowing to Trump and his Cabinet and other supporters, the feeling is that what America fought for two and a half centuries ago, is being lost, without much hope of a turnaround any time soon.

The Democratic Party and the defiant news media sources continue to fight against the trends that have emerged, but now, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) having a larger enforcement budget just enacted, it is clear what is occurring.

Mass arrests and deportations are violating the major tenets of our Constitution, and the Bill of Rights is under attack, with little likelihood of a challenge, at least short term, that will reverse the damage that has been done, and is being done by the “Big and Beautiful” Budget bill that just passed into law yesterday, and was, a short time ago, signed into law at a White House ceremony!