March 23-25, 2020
Mar 23 03:56 Worried about the coronavirus? Don't be Mar 23 04:50 Speaker Pelosi, Sen. Schumer equal the end of bipartisanship Mar 23 07:00 Building Pelosi's Christmas tree Mar 23 19:18 Pelosi will get rolled by McConnell Mar 24 15:33 The Democrats' special interests Mar 24 19:01 Nancy Pelosi's [crappy] attitude Mar 25 07:10 Do we finally have a deal?
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Worried about the coronavirus? Don't be
If you're reading articles predicting the Apocalypse, put the computer down, stop reading what you're reading, then start trusting Dr. Anthony Fauci. That's Dr. Drew Pinsky's RX to the nation. Pinsky calls Dr. Fauci the nation's "North Star" on these things. Pinsky then said that he's got faith in Dr. Fauci and in the research doctors at the CDC and NIH.
Dr. Pinsky said that he's intrigued by the hydroxychloroquine and the azithromycin. In fact, he said "I see a lot of good news in a lot of domains. I was on television with Dr. Oz last night. We both agreed that we both need 2 pieces of information to really change the course of this thing. I want a little more peer review data on the use of the malaria medicine, the Hydroxychloroquine showing significant benefit of treatment and, perhaps, prophylactic activity of the same medication."
[Video no longer available]
The point is that there's tons of reasons to be optimistic. As Dr. Drew points out, there are a number of treatments that wouldn't need to go through the entire approval process because they've already been through that process for a different use. In his interview with Greg Gutfeld, Dr. Drew said that he's upset with the reporting, saying that the media seems intent on pushing the most extreme stories in their attempt to panic people.
The media's goal is to increase readership. What actually happens, though, is that people panic. The media have done a fine job of increasing the panic
Posted Monday, March 23, 2020 3:56 AM
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Speaker Pelosi, Sen. Schumer equal the end of bipartisanship
Last night, partisan Democrats squashed a week of bipartisanship by returning to the Democrats' partisan ways. Democrats voted to not start debate on a much-needed stimulus bill. According to Sen. Mitch McConnell, things had been going well with the bipartisan working groups. The problems started when Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer entered the picture.
Suddenly, without warning, Democrats objected to the creation of what they called a " slush fund for corporations ." It isn't surprising that Sen. Pocahontas triggered Democrats to jump on that warpath. This fight isn't over, though, because Sen. McConnell "entered a motion to reconsider the measure and said he'd bring it up again for a vote by Monday":
"We'll have this...vote again at some point of my choosing and hopefully some adults will show up on the other side of the room and understand the gravity of the situation and the need to act before the markets go down further and the American people become even more depressed about our lack of ability to come together under the most extraordinary of circumstances," he said.
This is stupidity on display. You can't create jobs if you don't have employers. Here's Mitch speaking on the defeat of the motion on the Senate floor:
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Notice what he said about a minute into his speech:
Now the build up to this, so everybody fully understands, is that we had a high level of bipartisanship in five different working groups over the last 48 hours. Where members who were participating were reaching agreement.
And then all of a sudden, the Democratic leader and the Speaker of the House shows up. And we're back to square one. So we're fiddling here. Fiddling with the emotions of the American people, fiddling with the markets, fiddling with our health care.
Saying that Sen. McConnell was fired up is understatement. Here's more of what he said:
So we're fiddling here. Fiddling with the emotions of the American people, fiddling with the markets , fiddling with our health care . The American people expect us to act tomorrow and I want everyone to fully understand, if we aren't able to act tomorrow, it'll be because of our colleagues on the other side continuing to dither when the country expects us to come together and address this problem.
Now, I've changed my vote which gives me the opportunity to reconsider at a different time. That is all I can do in the face of this obstruction. Look, I can understand obstruction when you're trying to achieve something. This obstruction achieves nothing , nothing whatsoever other than prevent us from getting into a position where there are literally 30 more hours that they could use to continue to dither.
'So at a time when the country is crying out for bipartisanship and cooperation -- and we saw that over the last 48 hours when regular members of the Senate, not in the leadership office, not in the speaker's office, for goodness sake, she's the speaker of the House, not the speaker of the senate -- we don't have one. We were doing just fine until that intervention.
Speaker Pelosi shouldn't have intervened. She's part of the problem. She isn't part of the solution. Pelosi insists that House Democrats are putting a bill together.
That's laughable since the House is out on recess. The Democrats' bill will necessarily be a partisan bill because they won't have included Republicans in the drafting of the bill. Pelosi's Democrats specialize in hyperpartisanship. Working through a crisis requires bipartisanship. Ms. Pelosi isn't capable of bipartisanship.
Remember that this November when you're voting. Electing a Democrat means re-electing Ms. Pelosi as Speaker. That, in turn, means 2 additional years of Pelosi's obstructionism.
Posted Monday, March 23, 2020 4:50 AM
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Building Pelosi's Christmas tree
This article explains why Pelosi and Schumer intervened after a day of bipartisan negotiations. According to the article, "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said Democrats are now writing their own bill in the House. That measure is likely to include protections for workers, unemployment insurance expansion beyond what is in the Senate bill, and partial student loan forgiveness . "
What does student loan forgiveness have to do with anything? This is a perfect example of Pelosi following Rahm Emanuel's guide to governing. That's the one that says Democrats "shouldn't let a crisis go to waste" in trying to get a few extra goodies.
They also seek hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to states to help them deal with medical costs associated with the coronavirus. The Senate bill includes $110 billion, but Democrats say it's not enough to address the shortages of protective gear and equipment for healthcare workers.
"It falls short of what medical providers need," Sen. Joe Manchin, a key centrist Democrat from West Virginia, said ahead of the vote.
Like other Democrats, Manchin is drifting further left by the day. Why not turn this bill into AOC's Green New Deal while you're at it. That's where the Democrats appear headed with this.
This is proof that Democrats can't be trusted to be serious. If you want seriousness during a crisis, you need Republicans led by Mitch McConnell. During his speech after the Democrats defeated a procedural motion to start debate on the stimulus bill, Sen. McConnell said "We have an obligation to the American people to deal with this emergency and deal with it tomorrow. And if we don't, I want everyone to fully understand, you've seen everyone that's on record. Now I've conspicuously avoided trying to turn this into any partisan effort for two days. But it's pretty clear what's going on here."
Let's be clear about this. Democrats need to stop hating employers. That's who they are right now. Elizabeth Warren's stump speech and her speech on the Senate floor. The worst part is that Elizabeth Warren used to work as a lawyer for the corporations to help them shaft the people she now claims to care about. She's a total phony.
This could turn into quite the political fiasco for Democrats if Democrats don't support the stimulus. Sen. Susan Collins said "the move by Democrats is irresponsible and unwise. They are playing with fire." When a moderate like Susan Collins makes a statement like that, it's time to pay attention. ASAP. Accusing Sen. Collins, (R-ME), of being a corporate shill is difficult fight.
Ed Morrissey notes that the Democrats' favorite impeachment Republican isn't impressed with the Democrats' stunt:
Nothing in the Senate has shocked me, until today. Standing in the way of a critically needed rescue package is irresponsible and reckless. Dems say not enough money to states: nearly $200 billion isn't chump change. Hospitals get at least $75 billion.
- Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) March 23, 2020
UPDATE: I should've read this article before publishing the post about Pelosi's Christmas tree. Here's additional information on Pelosi's obstruction:
Pelosi reportedly was seeking a "laundry list" of items to be included in the emergency legislation, including wiping out up to $10,000 in student loan debt per person and securing election-security funding .
This legislation is a distraction. It isn't worth discussing. Still, this doesn't surprise me, especially coming from Ms. Pelosi.
Sen. McConnell should immediately announce that the Senate won't consider anything except clean bills that deal exclusively with the coronavirus and the coronavirus-related stimulus. That'd end Pelosi's legislation in its tracks.
Posted Monday, March 23, 2020 7:29 AM
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Pelosi will get rolled by McConnell
Now that Ms. Pelosi has stuck her partisan Democrat nose into the middle of serious bipartisan negotiations on a coronavirus-related stimulus package, it's only a matter of time before she gets rolled by Sen. Mitch McConnell -- again. Based on this article , Pelosi's House Democrat bill is a strictly partisan bill filled with items unrelated to the virus.
For instance, "Pelosi reportedly was seeking a 'laundry list' of items to be included in the legislation, including wiping out up to $10,000 in student loan debt per person and securing election-security funding." These items have nothing to do with the virus or the stimulus. They should be ignored. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell should immediately announce that the Senate won't consider bills unless they're clean bills and they're related to the virus or to the stimulus.
This statement stinks to high heaven:
"It's on the Senate side now because that's their deadline for a vote, but we'll be introducing our own bill and hopefully it'll be compatible with what they discussed on the Senate," Pelosi told reporters early Sunday.
Pelosi knows that the Democrats' bill won't be anything like the Senate bill. First, the House Democrats' bill won't be a negotiation between Republicans and Democrats. Speaker Pelosi demands things from people. She doesn't negotiate. She dictates terms. At least, that's what she does until she runs into Mitch McConnell. Then she gets her arse kicked.
Posted Monday, March 23, 2020 7:18 PM
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The Democrats' special interests
According to Katie Pavlich's article , this is what prevented the Democrats from reaching agreement on the emergency stimulus bill:
According to a source close to the process on Capitol Hill, in order to move forward with any kind of relief package, Pelosi and her far-left Democrat caucus will demand the following be included:
- Publication of corporate pay statistics by race and race statistics for all corporate boards
- A bail out on all current debt at the Postal Service
- Required early voting
- Required same day voter registration
- Provisions on official time for union collective bargaining
- Full offset of airline emissions by 2025
- Publication and reporting of greenhouse gas statistics for individual flights
- Retirement plans for community newspaper employees
- Federal $15 minimum wage
- Permanent paid leave
- Study on climate change mitigation efforts
People are getting laid off and this is Nancy Pelosi's priorities list? Seriously? That isn't a priorities list. It's a special interest's wish list. The thought that Senate Democrats would put a hold emergency financial assistance hostage for these things is beyond unethical. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi should be thrown out of DC for that type of bad-faith negotiating. You know you've gone too far when Susan Collins gets this irate:
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Roger Simon nailed it in this column :
But the Dems don't seem to be listening, at least as of this writing, and remain determined to squeeze every molecule of advantage while the nation and its healthcare professionals suffer. They also risk fully tanking the U.S. economy and affecting the welfare of its citizens for years.
The economy is tanking? What do Democrats care? They want $15/hr. minimum wage nationwide. That isn't all Democrats want. Democrats want "retirement plans for community newspaper employees", too. Democrats want "paid permanent leave", too. Democrats aren't the party of the little guy anymore. They're the party of the special interests. Blue collar workers can go to hell as far as the Democrats can go. Paul Wellstone and Hubert Humphrey are turning over in their graves this moment.
The American people shouldn't give Democrats any levers of power for the next 30 years after pulling a stunt like that. Jason Lewis criticized Tina Smith's votes this way:
Senator Tina Smith is gambling with thousands of Americans' lives. It's disgusting and it needs to stop today. At the direction of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Tina Smith has been voting to block the coronavirus relief package. Until families and small businesses across Minnesota are put back to work (which must happen as soon as possible), they continue to struggle to get by. But shockingly, obstructionist Senate Democrats are holding up relief based on carbon footprints? It's egregious and every American should be outraged.
Minority Whip James Clyburn made the Democrats' intentions perfectly clear when he called the relief package 'a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.' Senator Cory Booker said the bill should be used to 'reform corporate culture.' To Senate Democrats, this relief bill isn't about helping Americans who suddenly find themselves struggling financially in the face of this virus. Instead, they see it as a political tool to push their radical agenda, including the Green New Deal.
Unlike these partisans in Congress, Minnesotans and Americans are united against one common enemy. Doctors and nurses on the front lines are risking their lives and manufacturers are retooling. They badly need our support. Tina Smith must immediately put aside the partisan politics and put the needs of the American people first.
Tina Smith, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats don't give a damn about America. With the nation facing this crisis, the Democrats' priority has been the Green New Deal. Are you seriously kidding me? Chuckie Schumer finds a microphone every 2 hours, then repeats the line 'We're getting close to a deal.'
The people whose lives are getting ruined by the Democrats' obstruction don't give a damn, Chuckie. We need a deal done yesterday. If you gave a damn about the people who make this nation great, you would've finished this deal. You don't give a tinker's damn. This November, you'll give a damn when We The People throw Democrats out of office en masse from the House and Senate.
Posted Tuesday, March 24, 2020 3:33 PM
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Nancy Pelosi's [crappy] attitude
It isn't surprising to anyone that's paid attention to Nancy Pelosi that she doesn't give a damn about the United States. The past 18 months, though, she's really 'upped' her game. Specifically, Pelosi has dragged the United States through a fiasco (impeachment), then a pandemic. The US economy was hitting on all cylinders just a couple months ago. You remember 2 months ago, right? That's when Pelosi's Democrats dragged President Trump through a farcical impeachment that was mostly hearsay testimony and Adam Schiff's theatrics.
Back in the real world, President Trump was dealing with the Wuhan virus. Despite President Trump's travel restrictions, which Sellout Joe Biden called "xenophobic and racist", scientists like Anthony Fauci and Debbie Birx stepped forward and said that President Trump's decision bought the world time to buy time and prepare for this pandemic.
What did Pelosi's Democrats do with that additional time? They put together legislation with this crap in it:
Families and businesses need help now to survive the China virus pandemic. But @SpeakerPelosi walked away from negotiations to write her own bill, full of absurd provisions completely unrelated to the crisis at hand. Here's what Speaker Pelosi is demanding while Americans suffer:
- Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) March 23, 2020
1. Corporate pay statistics by race and race statistics for all corporate boards at companies receiving assistance
2. Bailing out all current debt of postal service
3. Required early voting
4. Required same day voter registration
5. 10k bailout for student loans
- Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) March 23, 2020
10. Retirement plans for community newspaper employees
11. $15 minimum wage at companies receiving assistance
12. Permanent paid leave at companies receiving assistance
- Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) March 23, 2020
Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi and Little Chuckie Schumer, are holding this coronavirus stimulus bill hostage while workers get laid off. Democrats fight for $15/hr. while real workers get laid off. Why should I think that Democrats give a damn about Americans? I only trust things that I have proof for. Right now, I don't proof that Democrats give a damn about anything except partisanship.
This post by a very good friend of LFR says it all:
Make sure and stop past Jeff's blog and check out his entire post on this subject. It's well worth your while.
Posted Tuesday, March 24, 2020 7:01 PM
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Do we finally have a deal?
Is our long national nightmare finally over? Have negotiators finally put together a deal that will start the economy growing again? Shortly after midnight, the White House struck a deal with Senate Democrats on a massive stimulus bill to jumpstart an economy that was sizzling up until the start of the new year.
Justin Amash, the former Republican and current independent, is threatening to upend the bill :
Michigan independent Rep. Justin Amash, who recently left the Republican Party, signaled that he might essentially delay consideration of the bill in the House. The lower chamber may seek to pass the legislation via unanimous consent because many members are not in Washington -- but a single member can ruin that plan.
"This bipartisan deal is a raw deal for the people," Amash tweeted. "It does far too little for those who need the most help, while providing hundreds of billions in corporate welfare, massively growing government, inhibiting economic adaptation, and widening the gap between the rich and the poor."
This is more of a delaying tactic than anything else. If Amash doesn't consent to adopting the bill without a vote, then it will require a roll call vote, which will pass with overwhelming bipartisan support. That will essentially end Amash's political career. He's already in difficulty for re-election in his district. This won't make him more popular.
It's time to finish this part of the coronavirus fiasco. When the scientists and statisticians tell us that it's ok to return to work, let's return to work. Let's rebuild the strongest economy in the world.
Posted Wednesday, March 25, 2020 7:10 AM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 25-Mar-20 05:23 PM
This deal should not be approved. There are so many bad things in this bill but unemployment on steroids is one of the worst. There is no reason to pay someone an additional $600 on top of any UI benefits they would receive. Some people will make more unemployed than when they were working. There's no reason to be sending checks to every adult and child. My wife and I are under the reported income threshold but we don't need the money and I will refuse to cash the check. This is $6 trillion in government spending on a disease that has still not infected and killed as many people as the flu has this year. I'm not saying it isn't serious but the stats are the stats.
Quarantine the old and vulnerable and let the rest of the world get back to work.
