Green Eagle

I feel the need to dedicate this Wingnut Wrapup to White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, who, as reported at Daily Kos, as well as elsewhere, had the decency to explain to all of us how the Trump administration thinks: "We can't do that anymore. We can't spend money on programs just because they sound good. Meals on Wheels sounds great. […] I can't defend that anymore. We cannot defend that anymore." We cannot defend feeding people who are too old and sick to work. And as for meals for hungry school kids? "They're supposed to help kids who don't get fed at home get fed so they do better in school. Guess what? There's no evidence they're actually doing that." No evidence that feeding kids actually makes them less hungry? "There's no evidence they're helping results, helping kids do better in school, which is what -- when we took your money from you to say, we're going to spend them on after-school pr...

Maybe I just noticed this, or maybe it actually is the latest thing in the endless Republican lie about health care coverage.  Here's Trump yesterday: " First, we should ensure that Americans with pre-existing conditions have access to coverage, and that we have a stable transition for Americans currently enrolled in the healthcare exchanges." As I heard someone point out, access to coverage is not coverage. If someone offered you a health care plan that cost $10,000 a day, you would have access to coverage, but a fat lot of good that would do you.  Republicans are obviously hoping that the American people will not notice the difference.  And they are probably right.

A bunch of stuff from the last few days that I need to shovel out there, in preparation for the Flynn freakout that is going to get into high gear any moment now. Today's Wingnut Wrapup respectfully dedicated to St. John McCain, who had this interesting perspective on history: "I wouldn't describe any operation in which American soldiers died as a success." How about D-Day, John? And on we go...Let's start out today with one of the most inscrutable analogies I've heard in a long time: Alan Keyes, Renew America:  "Christian living may be like a relay race in which team members run the course side by side (instead of seriatim), passing the baton from one to another and back again. The goal is to cross the finish line without losing a soul, and without leaving behind anyone willing to join the team and run in good faith. " Huh?  If the goal is to have everyone cross the finish line together, it isn't much of a race, is it?  Why not sto...

So, it turns out that the Trump administration has just given press credentials to attend daily briefings to Jim Hoft, the legendary Stupidest Man on the Internet, or SMOTI as he is known far and wide, and a fixture in virtually every Wingnut Wrapup I have written over the last ten years.  I thought I would assemble his output, just from the last six months of Wingnut Wrapup, minus a handful of mentions that were so topical that they wouldn't make sense any more.  I've included the replies I made to him, because, I guess, I'm just that kind of malignant narcissist.  So, here we go! Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit:  "CNN Quietly Releases Updated Pic Showing Trump’s Inaugural Crowd Size Greater than Obama’s 2009 Inaugural Crowd" And here it is, from the Stupidest Man on the Internet: A photo from the Capitol, in which you can't see a thing past the reflecting pool, of the mall itself.  Man, these people are into lying to themselves. Jim Hoft, Gateway Pund...

Man, this has been painful lately.  I found some of this stuff and then couldn't even bear to look at wingnut websites for days.  Sorry, but here I am, at it again. Jonah Goldberg, Town Hall:  "'America first' Isn't a Trump Creation" No, it isn't.  As I remember it was popular in the 1930's among people who supported Nazi Germany. And now, what passes for humor on the right: Finally, American workers are going to be safe from 76 straight months of job growth. Christine Rousselle, Town Hall:  "House Votes To End Taxpayer Funding of Abortion" Something that ended in 1976.  Next:  House votes to end slavery.  House votes to go to war against Spain.  House... well, you get the idea.  Glad to know that the House Republicans are using their time well. Tyler O'Neal, PJ Media:  "President Trump Promises 'Major Investigation' into VOTER FRAUD" Just like the 'major investigations' into Benghazi and Hill...

...In one easy lesson, courtesy of Former Dittohead, via Kos: "Only Countries with Socialized Medicine have AAA Bond ratings. AAA countries according to Standard & Poor’s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_credit_rating     Austrailia     Austria     Canada     Denmark     Finland     France     Germany     Guernsey     Hong Kong     Isle of Man     Liechtenstein     Luxembourg     Netherlands     Norway     Singapore     Sweden     Switzerland     United Kingdom" One more outrageous Republican lie- that we can only insure a sound economy by screwing ordinary people- demolished by the facts. Hardly a new phenomenon, but every one of their lies has ten more standing behind it r...

This story, reported several places today (here by Politico ) will undoubtedly go almost unnoticed by the bulk of the mainstream media: "Senate Republicans caused a major stir Thursday when they told reporters that the parliamentarian had informed them that the Senate bill needed to be signed into law before lawmakers took up a sidecar bill to fix it. ...the accounts aren’t accurate and misconstrue what the Senate parliamentarians have said. That is that reconciliation must amend law but this could be done without the Senate bill being enacted first. “It is wholly possible to create law and qualify law before the law is on the books,” said one person familiar with situation." To understand this, you must know that the Senate parliamentarian is forbidden from talking in public about his rulings. When I saw the initial story about this, my first response was, of course, that the Republicans were lying as usual. I'm so glad to find that my suspicions were correct: you can ...

Here is such a clear statement about the current federal budget deficit that I can't resist quoting it at some length. It is from a blog called Seeing the Forest: "Suppose you take over a company that is losing $100 million a year, and your jobs is to turn it around. So perhaps the second year the company only loses $70 million, $30 million the third year, and breaks even in year four. You saved the company. But in those years the company "lost" another $100 million. Should you be fired? President Obama took office as President of a country with a $1.4 trillion deficit - thanks to the failure of conservative policies. Their tax cuts, wars, military buildups, corruption and incompetence drove the borrowing WAY up, and then their deregulation, corruption and incompetence destroyed the economy, driving the borrowing up into the stratosphere. If the borrowing just stayed the same at the $1.4 trillion level Obama inherited each year -- never mind that interest on al...