monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Liberalism is a disease and I hope that a cure is found soon.

Rep. Nunes Is a Lapdog in a Watchdog Role

...On Wednesday night, Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said the recent developments make it necessary to appoint a select committee or independent commission to run an inquiry. “No longer does the Congress have credibility to handle this alone,” Mr. McCain said in an interview on MSNBC. “And I don’t say that lightly.”

Mr. McCain is right. It was predictable that standard congressional committee investigations into the role of Russia and the election would turn into muddled partisan fights. But Mr. Nunes’s conduct stands out for his brazenness and heedlessness. His role as a committee chairman is to carry out responsible oversight of intelligence matters. Instead, he used his position to distract attention from the crucial question of whether Mr. Trump’s election was aided by collusion with an adversary.

The House Republican health care bill is a pure top-down document. It was not molded to the actual health care needs of regular voters. It does not have support from actual American voters or much interest in those voters. It was written by elites to serve the needs of elites. Donald Trump vowed to drain the swamp, but this bill is pure swamp.

Republican senators moved Thursday to dismantle landmark internet privacy protections for consumers in the first decisive strike against telecommunications and technology regulations created during the Obama administration, and a harbinger of further deregulation.

The measure passed in a 50-to-48 vote largely along party lines. The House is expected to mirror the Senate’s action next week, followed by a signature from President Trump.

The move means Verizon, Comcast or AT&T can continue tracking and sharing people’s browsing and app activity without permission, and it alarmed consumer advocates and Democratic lawmakers.

Conservatives live in a straight jacket form of thought, where all is black and white. A person committed a crime. It is a Mexican immigrant. Mexican emigrants are all criminals. It is a black person. All black persons belong in prison. It is a conservative. So? The victim was a degenerate and deserved it.

The same conclusion making process is used to keep kids from having school breakfast, to keep people from health care, food stamps and so forth. The cure, according to them, for virtually everything? Stop being poor or stop breathing.

One Rationale for Voter ID Debunked, G.O.P. Has Another

Of the 860,000 Nebraskans who cast ballots in last fall’s election, only two are suspected of casting fraudulent votes. But while the actual number of illegal voters may be minuscule, State Senator John Murante says, there is an even better reason for Nebraska’s Legislature to crack down on fraud at the ballot box.

“First and foremost, we know the confidence that Americans and Nebraskans have in the election system is at an all-time low,” said Mr. Murante, a Republican who is backing a constitutional amendment that would require all voters to display photo IDs. “The perception exists that voter fraud is a serious issue, and that perception itself has to be addressed.”

Nationwide, Republican state legislators are again sponsoring a sheaf of bills tightening requirements to register and to vote. And while they have traditionally argued that such laws are needed to police rampant voter fraud — a claim most experts call unfounded — some are now saying the perception of fraud, real or otherwise, is an equally serious problem, if not worse.

Worried about Trump’s travel ban, Canada’s largest school district calls off U.S. trips

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/us/trump-illegal-immigrants-crime.html?_r=0
It all depends who you want to believe.

I don't know if anyone has yet taken a good look at how tourism to the US has been or might be affected by Trump's policies and rhetoric. If anyone sees such a study, please link it here.

I know what you mean about the winning, I expect the budget cuts, tax cuts and deregulations and the health care repeal and "replace" all will pass eventually in both the house and the senate.

emptywheel‏ @emptywheel 14m14 minutes ago
Liz BabyDick Cheney on floor now pretending that making maternity care optional is about giving women choice in coverage.

Norman Ornstein‏ @NormOrnstein 29m29 minutes ago
It is a hoot to watch GOP House members blame Democrats for not coming to table.After 7 yrs of GOP stonewalling, sabotaging health reform