The Daily Combover - February 7, 2017

Surely one out of 50 of the Senators who voted to confirm Betsy DeVos isn't going to sleep well tonight, right? I mean they must have some compassion, right? Or is American Conservativism an actual mental disorder? It's pretty clear that in today's America, the inmates are running the asylum.

We, here at the Combover, recognize that for every glimmer of hope we have in resisting Trump, there are countless evils being done in its place.  Yes, we managed to put enough pressure on the administration to put it on the defensive with the Muslim Ban.  But we're essentially going to be helpless as the Department of Education is about to be shut down in favor of school vouchers and other-such profit-first schemes in the name of Betsy DeVos's version of Jesus. You know the one that enjoys higher crime rates, lower economic productivity, oh and what every conservative really wants at heart -- more abortions. You see, schooling builds human capital. It's something economists have researched since the dawn of industrialization (though that last Mincer link is to one of the most cited papers in all of economics and it's only about 70 years old). But it's more than just that. human capital doesn't just mean people will earn higher wages. It means they are less likely to commit crimes. They are more likely to continually build on their productivity.  And, yes, more schooling means more sexual education which, in turn, leads to fewer abortions.

But Trump and DeVos will be sure to put an end to that because private education has potential for short run profits. And in our cutthroat capitalist system, short run profits are better than life itself.

And then the morning comes.

You'd think Trump would be in a good mood. His buddy Robert Kraft just made millions off of his 5th Superbowl championship. One of his biggest donors, Betsy DeVos, gets her wish of getting to lay off half a million teachers as she destroys the public school system that our country has been languishing under since Jesus was riding around on his pet Stegosaurus.

But, no, instead he had to tell a lie about terrorist attacks being under-reported and then after being called out on it, it was time to double down and then even triple down. Luckily, he had O'Reilly around on Sunday to get people to lose interest on that because during the handjob O'Reilly was giving him, he decided that he wanted to ask Trump about Some Dude named Putin. Look, Putin sounds like a real nice guy and all, but it's pretty clear Trump doesn't know him. Know how I know? Because Trump said so this morning:

I don't know Putin, have no deals in Russia, and the haters are going crazy - yet Obama can make a deal with Iran, #1 in terror, no problem!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 7, 2017

Trump's so amazing that he even started a hashtag for it: #1in. What a guy!

Know how awesome Trump is? He could lie to a sheriff association about murder rates and those spineless sheriffs would just lap it up. Heck, he could probably talk to them about destroying someone and they would just sit there and laugh. I hope it was worth dislodging Sean Hannity from Trump's ass to get a good lick. But Trump doesn't laugh at stuff like that. when he says he's going to end someone, he means it. And that's why I haven't set foot on 5th Avenue my last few visits to the City.

So remember Republicans. When you vote in the next member of the cabinet, presumably Jeff Sessions, this is what you are enabling. And that doesn't just make you a Nazi sympathizer, it makes you every bit the Nazi that Trump and Bannon are. Sleep well tonight but remember, Nazis always lose.

Catch you on the flip side America. Hope your children still is learning by the time we get there.

The Daily Combover - January 30, 2017

What a weekend!

Dear Leader Agent Orange did not look happy that his inaugural crowd was once again emasculated by a protest crowd.  This time it was a series of timed protests at international, national, and even regional airports across the country.

From a few hundred people in Springfield, IL to tens of thousands in larger cities like Boston and Washington, we, the people, did not stand in silence as Trump signed executive orders banning people (almost all Muslim) from 7 nations from entering the United States as well as the plans for a border wall between the US and Mexico.

How did our Dear Leader respond? With a very nice 31st memorial for the crew of the Challenger:

Today, we remember the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger, 31 years later. #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/OhshQsFRfl

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2017

Oh yeah and there was something about a bunch of people dying in some event around the time of World War II. But since it involved Jews, Dear Leader didn't really want to bother with it.

Apparently, Fox News didn't cover the protests, so Trump didn't have any talking points for that. What was on TV? Possibly a Mountain Dew commercial like this one,

because Trump decided that the best way to defend his Executive Orders was to talk about how extreme they were.

Our country needs strong borders and extreme vetting, NOW. Look what is happening all over Europe and, indeed, the world - a horrible mess!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2017

And we also learned that clearly Dear Leader isn't a fan of "dudes"

If the ban were announced with a one week notice, the "bad" would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad "dudes" out there!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2017

Don't worry Dear Leader. The Dude gets it.

In other news, Trump continued his quest to uneducate our youth by announcing the elimination of a half million teaching jobs as part of his noble effort to eliminate the Department of Education. For someone who wants 4% GDP growth, he really does not understand the first thing about Human Capital -- something that economists have been telling the public for nearly 60 years -- there is empirical proof that education increases human capital which then increases GDP. There's no better way to achieve growth than to educate your populace.

And then, of course, this morning we received the chilling news that our next Supreme Court Justice will be announced shortly:

I have made my decision on who I will nominate for The United States Supreme Court. It will be announced live on Tuesday at 8:00 P.M. (W.H.)

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2017

Now might be a good time to get on the phone with your Senators and remind them how important it is to keep Agent Orange contained. For the next four years, the only vote in a Supreme Court nomination is a nay.

Keep up the pressure and I'll catch you on the flip side.

Can the States Protect Us?

I honestly don't know the answer; since the beginning of time, mostly for pretty nefarious reasons, including in recent years, have used the term "states' rights" and thrown around the Tenth Amendment to justify things like slavery, Jim Crow, and resisting federal measures like environmental regulations and the Affordable Care Act.

Now, the shoe may be on the other foot, though we're in very strange and extreme territory, given that we've elected an unabashed fascist who is planning acts that are beyond the pale, including going door to door and rounding up immigrants, demonizing entire groups of people, and deporting American citizens.

So far, I've seen two states saying they're ready to step up and protect us against the looming storm.

One is New York, where Governor Andrew Cuomo has been issuing a number of messages such as this one:

Those of us who have spent time in politics know that losing is part of the experience. Still, Secretary Hillary Clinton’s defeat on Tuesday was a particularly difficult experience, heartbreaking and bewildering and indeed frightening all at once. I wanted to share some thoughts on how we must acquit ourselves in the days ahead.

As Clinton said, when Donald Trump takes office, we will owe him an open mind and a chance to lead. The fate of the ship always takes precedence over the identity of the captain, and we must loyally do our part to protect the ship.

The night he became commander-in-chief, Donald Trump said he wanted to be President of all Americans. Despite the divisiveness of the campaign, he has an opportunity to live up to that promise by acting first on issues where there is common ground with his opponents. He said he wants to govern on behalf of forgotten Americans, and any time he does that, he can count on both Democrats and Republicans to help him achieve success.

Trump also said that he wants to rebuild America’s infrastructure. In that effort, he will find New York a willing partner as the Tappan Zee Bridge, a new La Guardia Airport, a new cross-Hudson Tunnel, and a revitalized Penn Station continue to rise.

But while we honor America by honoring the results of the election, we will fight as fiercely as we can, at every opportunity that presents itself, to reject the hateful attitudes that pervaded throughout the 2016 campaign. We cannot unhear what we have heard. The voices of the Ku Klux Klan, white nationalism, authoritarianism, misogyny and xenophobia. A generally disdainful view of American ideals.

We all hoped that when we woke up on Nov. 9 the ugliness of this campaign season would finally be gone. But on the day after Election Day, a swastika and the words “make America white again” appeared, spray painted on a softball dugout in Wellsville — in our state of New York.

 I cannot and will not pretend that these things are normal even if millions of Americans voted for a campaign either because of these values or in spite of them. I know there are millions more people like me — both Democrats and Republicans who reject them. As I said on other occasions, this election was for the soul of America, and that is why today so many of us feel as we do today; we are soul sick. But as we accept the results of the election, we do not accept these positions.

Americans fought these attitudes before the 2016 election, and we will fight them for as long as it takes to vanquish them. That is our mission, and our dedication to its success does not depend on the occupant of the White House. Americans pledge themselves to “one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” One election does not erase that commitment.

We Democrats are not without resources. In Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, Democrats in Congress have leaders who are brilliant parliamentarians, and who will advance our causes even as they will provide a bulwark for our values. But let us also look to our state governments as places where progress can be made. One of the reasons why so many of the programs of President Roosevelt’s New Deal proved effective is that he had tried them out while he was governor of New York. Initiatives like Marriage Equality were enacted in New York and other states before they became the law of the land. Congress has refused to act on gun control, but we enacted a tough law in New York, and California, Nevada, and Washington strengthened their gun laws on Tuesday.
While the world struggles to come to consensus on how to combat climate change, we in New York have banned fracking and set a renewable energy standard requiring 50% of our electricity to come from renewable energy sources like wind and solar by 2030. This year in New York State, we enacted a $15-an-hour minimum wage, the nation’s best Paid Family Leave program, and dedicated more funding to education than ever before. And in this state, we accomplished these successes with a divided legislature: Democrats and Republicans coming together, proving you can be progressive and bipartisan. Indeed, there is more than one path to progress.

Soon enough we will see what proposals will find their way into the President-elect’s agenda. Already it seems almost every far-right Republican under the sun is seeing Trump’s electoral college victory a mandate to enact sweeping ideas and radical proposals, regardless of the pain that is inflicted and the turmoil that is caused. I have great faith that common sense will eventually prevail, and that our traditional American values of justice, liberty and equality will eventually rule the day.

In the end, they always have.

Both Democrats and Republicans have fought for these values throughout our nation’s history — from the time when Abraham Lincoln declared we were a nation with malice toward none and charity for all, to when a young Senator from the State of Illinois said: There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s the United States of America. The way has not always been easy, nor has the cost been cheap; but for whatever this moment demands of us, we are ready.

My father Mario Cuomo spent his entire life fighting against the death penalty, even when it wasn’t popular, even when it cost him the governorship, because he knew it was right. I will fight against the targeting of Muslims, immigrants, the LGBTQ community, and for the rights of all Americans every day I hold office and every day after that.

For our values, for our rights, for our vision of America, for the people who depend on us, we will fight. And for that, we are unwilling to compromise. 

 

I've also seen something similar from the California state legislature:

 

SACRAMENTO – California Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) and California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) released the following statement on the results of the President election:

 

Today, we woke up feeling like strangers in a foreign land, because yesterday Americans expressed their views on a pluralistic and democratic society that are clearly inconsistent with the values of the people of California.

 

We have never been more proud to be Californians.

 

By a margin in the millions, Californians overwhelmingly rejected politics fueled by resentment, bigotry, and misogyny.

 

The largest state of the union and the strongest driver of our nation’s economy has shown it has its surest conscience as well.

 

California is – and must always be – a refuge of justice and opportunity for people of all walks, talks, ages and aspirations – regardless of how you look, where you live, what language you speak, or who you love.

 

California has long set an example for other states to follow. And California will defend its people and our progress. We are not going to allow one election to reverse generations of progress at the height of our historic diversity, scientific advancement, economic output, and sense of global responsibility.

 

We will be reaching out to federal, state and local officials to evaluate how a Trump Presidency will potentially impact federal funding of ongoing state programs, job-creating investments reliant on foreign trade, and federal enforcement of laws affecting the rights of people living in our state. We will maximize the time during the presidential transition to defend our accomplishments using every tool at our disposal.

 

While Donald Trump may have won the presidency, he hasn’t changed our values. America is greater than any one man or party. We will not be dragged back into the past. We will lead the resistance to any effort that would shred our social fabric or our Constitution.

 

California was not a part of this nation when its history began, but we are clearly now the keeper of its future.

I have more questions than answers on this.

Immigration is an area where I think these states can step up; perhaps I'm naïve, but I just can't see Donald Trump sending ICE agents in huge numbers from door to door in New York or Los Angeles. But will these states openly continue to invite in new immigrants?

How about the following areas addressed in one or more of these letters?

Trade: How free are the states to set their own trade deals with foreign countries or violate ones made by the federal government?

Energy: Can the states block the federal government from opening up lands to extraction, particularly interstate projects like the Dakota Pipeline? Additionally, "dirty" energy companies have taken some actions to prevent renewables from taking over; what happens if they lobby the federal government to outright ban them? Renewables are a huge industry in many states.

Gun Control: The Supreme Court has certainly overruled the decisions by municipalities to control the types of weapons they can prevent from entering their communities. This could certainly get hairy... what if the federal government manages to legalize open carry everywhere, for everyone, and members of one state, say, New Hampshire, start brandishing guns in Boston?
Minimum Wage: In 2014, Oklahoma banned any local municipalities from raising their minimum wages above the state minimum wage. What would happen if the federal government abolished the federal minimum wage and then banned the states from having their own? Or even if they did the former, but not the latter? An increase of a few dollars has been shown not to affect employment levels, but what if New York has a $15 minimum wage while its neighbors have none at all?

And even beyond that, a lot of funding for Medicaid comes from the federal government, and Medicare and Social Security are totally coming from the government. It's likely block grants for Medicaid are coming down the pike, and more responsible states like California and New York will probably make that work. How about Social Security and Medicare? Can states collect their own taxes and make distributions for that purpose? Would that concept even be popular in "blue" states? See what happened in both Vermont and Colorado when they put single payer health care up for a vote.

What if federal housing and education grants disappear? Can the states make up the difference by not sending money to the federal government? In general, can we change tax policy so the residents of these states remit less in income tax to the federal government and more to the state? I'd be inclined to think that even if allowed, it would be politically unfeasible.

Boy, is John Calhoun probably laughing in his grave...