Don't Get Me Started with Linda Sharp

Healthcare In The Spin Cycle

Dearly beloved, 

We are gathered here today to mourn the death of the American Health Care Act, better known as the Orgiastic Attempt To Buttf*ck The American People.  It died as it lived - a tawdry bill full of bad choices, ill decision making, basically political revenge sex against the man whose name they cannot utter without shuddering.  The Republican created AHCA finally made its morning after walk of shame.  And as it staggered down the House halls, ill conceived and unsupported, it slipped in the puddle of spin cycle bullshit, breaking its neck and dying.

In lieu of flowers, the President and his cadre of uncaring minions now request we all eat shit and die with it...

Let us now open our hymnals and sing Highway To Hell(thcare)...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yes, once again sanity has overruled the pathological need of the GOP to ruin everything President Obama ever touched.  After spending YEARS and YEARS filling their Depends over the Affordable Care Act, YEARS and YEARS of votes they could not win to repeal it, YEARS and YEARS of promising something markedly better - they were shown again to be what they are:  sullen teenagers with no ideas, just a lot of toddler foot stomping.  A party filled with self serving legislators whose main goal in office is to stay in office.  The people, their constituents, are incidental, a means to an end.  Voters are simply the backs they climb upon to get to their positions of suckling at the power teat.

So, fine - they got the White House, they have the House, they have the Senate.  What else do they have?  Well, zero ideas to build on the Affordable Care Act, that's for sure.  You would think that for all the grandstanding, all the angst, the attempts, the YEARS - they would have had something.  Anything.  

They had nothing.  Not an idea.  Not a proposal.  Bupkis.  In a rare moment of honesty, Republican lawmaker Joe Barton likened their efforts to Fantasy Football.  They can talk a big game, but they have no game.  This truly was the moment when it was proven that all their repeal attempts through the years have not been about the people.  If it had been about the people, they would have had something well crafted and ready to implement.  Those repeal efforts have only ever been about giving President Obama the middle finger.  This bill was the equivalent of a book report written the morning it was due, having never even opened the book.  

Empty suits with empty promises.  Just like their new boss, a man who rambled repeatedly in the campaign that there would be "insurance for everybody!"  He crowed that “I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid.”  

“I am going to take care of everybody … Everybody’s going to be taken care of much better than they’re taken care of now.” Trump had also recently promised that the repeal will end with “a beautiful picture.”

So imagine the surprise when he and his coven began to hastily cobble together a bill that would throw an estimated 24-26 million people off their insurance.  When the CBO stated that the bill would cut Medicaid by $880 billion.  BILLION with a B.  And that beautiful picture?  It began to take shape as a carnage filled mural of pain, anger, and certain death.

Look, I am certainly not arguing that the current Affordable Care Act is perfection.  Far from it.  But it enabled millions and millions of people to obtain and afford insurance coverage.  My best friend is alive because her pre-existing condition could not be held against her and she was able to have two brain surgeries.  My children are secure in knowing they are covered till age 26 as they each move into the world trying to get fully launched as independent adults.  My dear friend with a child fighting cancer does not face inevitable financial ruin as the ACA prohibits a lifetime cap.  Insurance can not be higher based on gender.  And the one that the insurance companies truly hate: Insurers are required to spend at least 80% of premiums on medical costs or pay rebates back to consumers.

That last one is the kicker because that last one takes on a truly heinous disease:  GREED.

In an industry where top execs pull in salaries and bonuses that rival those on Wall Street, they did not like that one a whole awful lot.  You see, insurance is a business.  And as much as we feeling souls view healthcare as a moral, societal obligation - there simply is no room for philanthropy on a Blue Cross Blue Shield spreadsheet.  There are actuarial tables, lots of percentages forecast, and of course, a bottom line detailing their profits.

That's fine.  I get it.  Business is business, but this business is run like a cartel.  We are all supposed to do our part and enrich the cartel, but the moment we speak up and request some back, we become a target and El Chapo wants us dead.

I also get that having to pay for something you don't use regularly can chafe.  Take car insurance.  In 28 years with State Farm we have had one claim.  ONE.  When I hit a deer - let me rephrase that - when a deer hit me.  I was not out cruising for venison.  We have poured over a hundred thousand dollars into the system through the years, drawing on it once to the tune of roughly $6,000 in repairs.  

AND THAT'S FINE.

Like our medical insurance - we are lucky to be a healthy family.  We avail ourselves of standard visits for preventative care, and have had the odd medical anomaly of a broken ankle here, dehydration there, three pregnancies and deliveries.  Biggest use of our insurance has been when our oldest daughter became a medical curiosity through a year of testing and attempted treatments for a malady that was never diagnosed beyond the word "idiopathic" - med speak for "We dunno."  

We have paid into that system for decades, and the asked for return on our investment has been small in comparison to those with traumas, cancers, tumors.

AND THAT'S FINE.

This argument we have seen the past couple weeks from citizens and even legislators that, "Why should I pay for someone else's birth control/pregnancy/cancer?" shows just how little people actually understand the whole concept of insurance.  And the fact that those writing this failed bill did not have even a basic understanding should more than trouble ALL constituents.

Insurance is based on a pool.  A risk pool.  Our monies go into it.  And those that pay in may avail themselves of a "withdrawal" when medical crisis emerge.  Hell, it doesn't even have to be a crisis.  When you get a chest cold and head to the urgent care, the cost of your visit and treatment far exceeds that $20/$30/$50 copay you give them.  The rest is submitted to your insurance to be paid from that pool.

Just like the car insurance risk pool paid to have deer fur removed from my car's grill, which sat two feet back from its original location.  (Deer are not to be trifled with.)

As the vote on the GOP's Obama spite bill drew near, the outcry and backlash from this country's citizenry, yes, even from some Trump voters who realized what a sack of garbage it was, was thunderous.  Not a single Democrat wanted a thing to do with it.  And even some Republican lawmakers had either a moment of conscience, or worry about their re-election bids, to state they would not vote in favor of it.

Today, doing what he does best - Trump picked up the phone and called Robert Costa at the Washington  Post to begin the spin.  "So, we just pulled it."

Before Costa could ask a question, Trump began to spin in earnest, placing the blame squarely at the feet of Democrats, incredulous that “We couldn’t get one Democratic vote."  Boy howdy, Donald, why that's, that's unheard of!  

Oh, wait, no its not.  The Affordable Care Act got not a single Republican vote in either the House or the Senate.

He went on, “The beauty is that they own Obamacare. So when it explodes, they come to us, and we make one beautiful deal for the people."

Damn, that's rough.  Having to own defending something that will protect those 24-26 million people who would have gotten screwed by your hastily scribbled hate mail to President Obama.  In terms of what happened today, our faith in our voices actually being heard and mattering began a tiny recovery, moving off the critical list.  To quote author and life coach Cheryl Richardson, "People start to heal the moment they feel heard."  

So, President Trump, you want to make something "beautiful for the people"?  GREAT.  Get working on it.  Not with crayons and construction paper and seething hatred towards the black man who dared to be President.  Do it with research, experts, your conscience, some morals.  Stand up to the insurance execs that live in the halls of Congress, slithering around like vipers.  Stand up to the pharmaceutical lobby which does the same.  

Put the citizenry first.  Put love of country far ahead of love of money and enhancement of ego.  And for fuck's sake, stop making every breath your side takes about ruining everything associated with President Obama.

Have better ideas?  Wonderful!  Present them and you will be surprised at the support you will get from all sides.  Do something revolutionary like single payer and see how people like me stand with you.

But right now you have gotten what you deserve.  Another stinging rebuke.  Another bravado laden bill whose plug got pulled.

Spin it any way you like, Trump, but the truth is there for all to see.  You put forth a bill with terminal ass cancer and no insurance to cover it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Will the congregation turn to Ezekiel 34 as we read a very special passage for the deceased's father, Donald Trump...

Yea, though you walk through the valley of the shadow of Congress, we will fear no evil: for thou art of the deal is known to us; thy Tweets and thy staff they amuse us.

Thou preparest a table before us in the presence of thy members at Mar-a-Lago: thou anointest thy golf clubs; thy cup runneth over with Trump Vineyard, immigrant made wine.

Surely treason and conspiracy shall follow you all the days of your life: and you will dwell in the bighouse for ever.  Amen.

The Power Of Words

Wow.

There's a word.

Humbled.

Another good one.

Appreciative.

Should be in everyone's vocabulary.

The past 24 hours have found over 200,000 pairs of eyes reading a single entry here at Don't Get Me Started.  Traffic driven here by the sharing of a link over and over and over, like a literary Faberge shampoo commercial.  "I told two friends, and they told two friends, and so on and so on..."

Watching the numbers climb an average of 10,000 per hour, I have been humbled, appreciative, and left mouthing the word "Wow" over and over.

To that end, I would like to first thank all of you who have come, read, read more, commented, and then shared the link to "What Will It Take?" with your friends.  Welcome to DGMS.  I hope you come back often. (I promise things are not always this heavy around here.)

Reading your comments, I have been reminded of something I have always believed when I sit down to write - words have power.  The power to influence emotions, to broaden a scope, to move people to action.  And yes, to validate.  It's that last one that has been found in so many of the comments left on that particular piece.

And while echo chambers often get a deservedly bad rap - dissenting voices are important to a dialogue - sometimes, like the days we are living through, people need to be reminded that they are not alone, they are not crazy, and that what they feel is not unique.  

In this case, be reminded that 65 million other people are out here stupefied, horrified by what is happening in this country.

Being able to put words to what people are thinking but cannot quite express, are afraid to express, is humbling.  I never lose sight of that.  

I do want to try to respond to some of the comments, clarify where I am coming from in some of the words I wrote.

First and foremost, NO, I do not want innocent people to be hurt by this administration coming to power.  But in terms of those who voted for Trump, there is not any innocence to the act.  I have seen many of his voters try to hide behind "policy differences" and "conservatism" as their reasons.  NO.  In terms of policies?  He had none.  Not a one.  He had word salad, red meat, and dog whistles, but no real, actionable policies.  As for conservatism?  To use that word in relation to Donald Trump is laughable.  A man who splashes his cash on a gilded tower and a laundry list of failed enterprises is no conservative.

Supporting Trump meant that a person marinated in a cesspool of hate, ignorance, misogyny, racism, Islamophobia, phobias of all ilk for nearly 2 years, yet were willing to hold their nose, look the other way at the glaring inhumanity of his powerful words and his other followers, and still vote for him.  They do not now get to declare themselves clean.  There is great truth to the words, "You are the company you keep."  And their company believes they are better than someone whose skin is darker than theirs, whose religion is different than theirs, whose attractions are not like theirs.

This is not a matter of political difference, this is a matter of humanity.  And as long as the orange finger was not pointing at them, they were totally cool with it being pointed at everyone else.

Next, in terms of those who are of the "reach out and embrace the opposition" mindset, I used to think that way, too.  The sad reality is that the majority on that other side would sooner cut your outstretched arms off than enter your embrace.  They have long scoffed at liberals, jeering at our empathy, open hearts, desire to help others.  They see our willingness to compromise as weakness.  Our compassion makes them sick.  They laugh at the fact we feel.  

That's fine.  I will take being laughed at, jeered at, made fun of.  Our compassion is the source for why we can actually SEE other people as PEOPLE, not monsters or threats.  Our empathy leads us to learn about others.  Our willingness to replace what we think we know with actual fact is why we are less afraid.  Fear cannot exist without a steady diet of ignorance.

I am completely aware of what a dangerous world we have.  I know there are real threats.  But I also know that more of my fellow citizens are a greater daily threat to me than is ISIS.  I know that no transgender person has ever attacked someone in a bathroom.  I know that my marriage is not compromised or weakened by a same sex marriage.  That people who follow Islam are no different than people who follow Christianity.  It's the extremists in both that are the danger.

And I know that civility has its place.  Many have stated I am "an angry person."  In general, no.  In the acute?  YES.  Any rational, thinking, truly patriotic person would be angry about what has/is taking place.  The hypocrisy alone is staggering.  Reverse any of this - any one piece of it.  Replace the word Trump with Hillary - his supporters would be screaming for her head.  That is the mindset we are up against.  Sadly, we are going to have to come to terms with the fact that our overtures, our attempts at entreaties don't just fall on deaf ears - they fall on willfully deaf ears.  The adult equivalent of toddlers with their fingers in their head holes chanting "Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah."  The other side must be met on their playing field where they need to finally feel that we are not weak.  They need to be shocked by our strength, our passion, our willingness to fight for this country they only profess to love.

As I told someone earlier today, these people have always been there.  They were just hiding in the shadows, knowing that their beliefs, their venality was not acceptable.  But Trump came along and not only emboldened them to step out of those shadows, those sewers, but he validated their heinous thoughts, actions.  Now, like any schoolyard bully, they will only shrink when stood up to.  They need knocked HARD onto their metaphorical asses.  They, and their vile behaviors, must be shoved back into those sewers, made to realize that this country is better than what they, and their chosen leader, are portraying to the world.

I have always held fast to the belief that people are nuanced, so much more than one thing.  But this election has highlighted that one thing can be a definer.  One thing can obscure the others.  I know that in that 62 million who voted for him are people who volunteer, who take care of their granny, who donate to food banks, who smile at their neighbor, who laugh at funny videos, who extend a helping hand.  But those same people denied the humanity of millions of others when they elevated Donald Trump to POTUS.

And in that one act, they obscured everything else and defined themselves one by thing:  their own stunning lack of humanity.

That is what they must be made to see, to own.  Every tear that falls, every family torn apart, every drop of blood that is shed as a result of the actions of this administration - they must not be allowed to feign innocence.  They must be held accountable.  And yes, when they find themselves hurting, scared, shocked at the tables turning on them, I know we bleeding hearts will do what we always do - we will reach out a hand.  I have complete faith in the better angels of our nature - even if those angels have to now stand back and watch cold, hard reality smack people in the face.

We will help two people, and perhaps they'll help two people, and so on and so on.  A girl can dream, can't she?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Again, thank you to everyone who has come in to DGMS and granted me a portion of your time.  Thank you for allowing me to be a part of the dialogue, to share my words with you, and in turn to read the ones you have shared with me.  

Words have power.  And I have read every single one you have left here.

What Will It Take?

So, you voted for Trump.

You cheered his rhetoric of hate and phobias.  

You proudly wore your "Fuck Your Feelings" tshirts to his rallies.

You cried out "Lock her up!" at his events - not caring to comprehend that there is nothing to "lock her up" for.  Hell, at yet another recent victory tour rally (read: ran to Pennsylvania to avoid humiliation at the Press Corp dinner), you were still chanting that ridiculous mantra as he held another "Make Me Feel Great Again" rally.

You LOVED his blanket condemnations of Islam.

You grabbed your sac every time he hollered how Mexico would pay for his wall.

You deathgripped your whiteness, so fearful of becoming the minority and having the treatment tables turned on you.

You happily lapped up every impossible promise he made.

You fact checked nothing.  And you voted for him.

A man-baby so insecure with himself that he championed his own penis in a debate.  A self confessed womanizer, cheater, molester, and piece of excrement who has never had any use for religion was embraced by churchgoers because he said words like "abortion" and let people pray over him.  A thinskinned schoolyard bully who tweets as often and as foul-ly as he probably releases his KFC emissions.

You voted for him despite the hordes of white supremacists who lauded him.  You proudly stood shoulder to shoulder with them at his campaign stops.  You joined in the mob mentality he meant to elicit each time he pointed to the penned in group of reporters and endangered their very lives.

You voted with your hate, with your ignorance, with your misogyny, with your fears, with your phobias, with your delusions.

You voted for his pledges to "drain the swamp."

You spent 8 years hating on President Obama for every breath he dared to take, grabbing at every salacious made up story, ridiculing his time spent with his family, spent golfing, hell, you ridiculed his family as well.  A family that never had a breath of scandal; a family that is affectionate, intelligent, close.  A President who projected intellect, probity, empathy, sympathy; a President who was largely respected around the world.

When the election came around, you were more than happy to transfer your bullshit onto Hillary Clinton, believing all manner of made-up garbage, including that she runs a child rape ring from the basement of a pizza parlor.

Seriously, how fucking dense are you people?

Rhetorical question.  No answer needed.

So, you voted for him.  For that whole Make America Great Again emptiness, but then bumper sticker thinking tends to win the day in your crowd.  Sorry, Trumper sticker thinking.

He has now been in office for just shy of two months.  What will it take to make you finally wake up and see what you have let loose?

His great plan to defeat ISIS in 30 days?  Where is it?  Again, rhetorical question - it exists only between his ears and as expressed hot air when he rambles out loud.

He emboldened all the dullards who see only color, and who feel it is now their right to physically strike out at anyone who is not white - ripping off hijabs, punching people on subways, shooting them dead in bars - all accompanied by the words "Get out of my country!"

He hates Muslims so much (like you) that he has now tried twice to institute travel bans - except from countries where he has financial interests, actual terrorists from those countries be damned - those Mu$lim$ are okey dokey?  How do you reconcile that?

You gleefully supported over 33 hearings on Benghazi, not caring one whit how your tax dollars were being squandered on a witchhunt in which your own party could find no wrongdoing on Hillary's part.  Yet Trump orders an ill-conceived, bravado laden raid over dinner resulting in women, children, and a Navy SEAL being killed, and you look away.

Seriously, the mental gymnastics you must be doing to be cool with that are worthy of a Simone Biles gold.

He promised you the "greatest healthcare" while stumping, and has now made it clear that what he supports is tens of millions being throw off their insurance, premium increases that will bankrupt your parents, and millions in tax cuts for his rich friends.  Good luck when little Johnny needs asthma meds or you get ass cancer.  Or you change jobs and your wife with diabetes can no longer get insured because of that pesky pre-existing condition of hers.  Oh, and you are aware that her simply being a woman will be a pre-existing condition, correct?  Perhaps you should have done your research and actually comprehended that the Affordable Care Act and the FOX slurred Obamacare are the same thing.  

Maybe when enough of you start to die... will that be enough?

You derided Obama as elite for his impressive education, called him a celebrity because of his crowds.  Then you elected a petulant, spoiled brat from Wharton, who was a reality TV star.  

Does your hypocrisy chafe at all?

Trump assured you time and again that Mexico would pay for that big beautiful border wall.  Mexico told him to fuck off time and time again.  And now, today, comes the confirmation in his own budget proposal sent to Congress that YOU will be paying the billions for a wall that will be meaningless.

Is that enough?  What, no umbrage?  No outrage?

You embraced his every childish taunt, his every 3am Twitter rampage during the campaign, thinking them hilarious, brave, profound - how about now that he should be governing yet is more distracted by wars with Nordstrom and Snoop Dogg?  

He making you proud by acting like a 12 year old boy with his first cell phone?

That whole swamp draining thing?  Um, he is surrounded by white nationalists, climate deniers, liars, and fellow million/billionaires.  He loudly derided Hillary for giving a speech at Goldman Sachs - you booed and hissed and wanted her head - he has surrounded himself with former Goldman Sachs employees.

"Her emails!  Her server!  Security!!!!!"  <----There's a popular one from the campaign trail.  Yet you are as quiet as a ward of coma patients as his administration uses private email servers, he openly conducts the business of national security over dinner at his "winter White House,"  invites Mar-a-Lago members to sit in on cabinet interviews, and he continues to use an unsecured Android phone.

Vacations?  Golfing?  Pfffft.  "There's just so much to be done," Trump told CBS' 60 Minutes in an interview broadcast Nov. 13, 2016. "So I don't think we'll be very big on vacations, no."  Melissa McCarthy Sean Spicer, his sartorially challenged mouthpiece, told FOX “He will never take a vacation… he can’t sit still. He’s so eager to get things done and change things up – there is never an idle moment and so there is not going to be the word vacation will not exist in a Trump administration.”

He just returned from another weekend on the links at his course in New Jersey.  He has played TWENTY times since taking office.

What, is golfing suddenly cool?  Ok with all of you who derided every stroke Obama took?  And the costs you all shit yourselves blind over in terms of "vacations" when Obama was in office?  All these $3 million trips to Florida hunky dory with you?  West Palm Beach is starting to realize what a bankrupting grifter he is as his repeated trips are threatening the very existence of many businesses:  "We're going broke."  That $1.7 million dollars in taxpayer money that has gone from the WPB coffers to his security?  The White House refuses to even acknowledge the requests to be reimbursed.

Melania living in Manhattan and costing you (all of us) just shy of a million a day?  Look, I am fine with their choice to let Barron finish the school year there.  My own family has made that choice, hell, we are LIVING that choice, and have been for over 9 years.  BUT WE ARE PAYING THE COSTS OF OUR CHOICE.

<Insert crickets.>  Of course it's ok with you.  You'd rather eat from a buffet of Trump's rectal remnants than admit, perhaps, that you got conned by a man who literally earned the moniker Don The Con DECADES ago.  You got played by a reprobate who has made a very public display of constantly and consistently cheating, lying, ripping off, and threatening people all his life.  The Art of the Deal?  Sorry, the only art here is the art form to which he raised carnival barking.  

So what will it take?  THAT is a serious question.

Will you have to see your own grandparents starve to death as Meals On Wheels evaporates?  Will Putin have to be caught with his tongue in Trump's mouth and his hand down his trousers for you to stop with the "fake news" bullshit?  Sorry, but just because news doesn't make your head feel good or your pee pee hard does not make it fake.  Will your child have to die in front of you because your healthcare disintegrated?  Well, you can take heart in all those new weapons of death he has promised for the military.

What will it take for you to finally admit that you were lied to, vote grifted, used?  

I suspect for most of you it will take a target finally being squarely placed on your back.  

Whether it is healthcare, bankruptcy, your coal jobs NOT coming back, your deployed spouse or child being blown to bits in a war of distraction and bravado, or finally being labeled a "loser" by Trump for being poor - it will happen.

You cheered as he targeted Muslims.  Because you aren't one.  You applauded as he targeted the LGBT.  Because you aren't one.  You proudly wore your MAGA hats as he targeted Mexicans.  Because you aren't one.  You laughed as he constantly went after minorities (pssst, brown people).  Because you are not one.  You clapped like a deranged seal as he repeatedly took aim at Black Lives Matter supporters.  Because you are not one.  You blew off his obvious ridiculing of a disabled reporters.  Because you are not disabled.  

Your target is coming.  It is inevitable.  You will need something at some point - we all do - assistance, insurance, school lunches for your children when you lose your job, food stamps, housing aid, an emergency operation, and on and on.  And when you do, you will be a loser, a taker, a welfare cheat.  Too bad you can't eat boot straps.

Some of you are slowly opening your eyes - comment sections now contain those who confess to making a mistake with their vote, TrumpRegrets collects all the staunch supporters who have finally realized they have been chewing on bullshit, not red meat, thrown to them by this fraud.  Investigations into his lies and connections (and those of the cadre of villains around him) are ongoing and more is gleaned every day.

His house of cards is coming down.  Alternative facts, fake news, Tweets meant to distract, all of it, will eventually give way to cold, hard facts that reveal how vile, corrupt, compromised, and naked is this emperor.  Sadly, however, the damage has been done.  

And you own it.  All 62 million who looked the other way at every horrific statement, heinous promise, and pledge to hurt other people.  You did this to our nation because, like Trump, you cared more about winning than you do about your neighbors, this country.

What will it take?  Pain.

It's coming Trumpers.   But when you are crying, in need, damaged, bereft don't expect the majority that tried to keep this from happening to feel sorry for you. 

To quote your tshirts:  Fuck Your Feelings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I invite you to read the follow up to this piece called The Power Of Words