Barry, as always you never disappoint. Thank you for pointing to these plodding examples of more pertinent legislative activity-like passing the farm bill while showing nothing for it but regress and denial of responsibility-at least the U.S. House passed its version but the Senate has yet to come up with its version. It seems the only action that they’ve done is to grease the wheels of authoritarianism by appropriating two massive budget packages $140 billion (2025), and an additional $70 billion package (2026) to ICE/CBP and to vote and act on how their leader wants them to vote, not the way their constituents have asked them to consider voting as alternatives.
Like you said there are so many examples of just towing the line, but to name a few: the Medicaid budget was significantly severed which will result in an estimated 120K Iowans being whittled away from health insurance due to changing qualifications to receive care. Or not extending the ACA tax credits, causing over an estimated 100K Iowans and their dependents to not have any healthcare insurance over the next ten years. It is estimated that by the end of 2026, more than 25K Iowans will have stopped their ACA enrollment coverage due to the rising cost of monthly premiums. Roughly 27% of farmers and rural households in Iowa have the ACA as their healthcare insurance. The harm upon dependents in those households is shameful thanks to these lockstep lackeys, voting for OBBBA legislation to give themselves and their billionaire lobbyist friends shameful privileges and tax cuts, in addition to executive level healthcare.
Spot on Barry. Hinson's recent ad declares that she works with both parties. Her claims of working against big insurance companies, fighting for veterans' care and being against Congressional stock trading ring hallow against her Trump fealty.
Great article, Barry. As the saying goes, When someone shows you who they are, believe them. And they have shown us over and over. And...thanks for the shout out!
Lincoln story is so good. Today's Republicans are trying the same trick with January 6—calling rioters "patriots," "tourists," or "picnickers." A new metaphor: putting a picnic blanket over a broken Capitol window doesn't turn a burglary into a picnic. Names don't erase reality.
Jim's thought: NO, I have not and will not forget — to hold each of them accountable. In my book Zach Nunn's name is spelled NONE & DONE. Ashley Hinson — a 'wealthy' henchman dressed in 'drag'. I'll stop there before my words become inappropriate. Not one of IOWA's "D.C. Six represent represent or speak for my political views.
Nunn, Hinson, and all Republicans can pretend they have all kinds of personal moral values and political bipartisanship, but if they voice any conflict with Trump's lies and lawbreaking, one threatening phone call from Trump will wipe that all away. What are their supposed bipartisan solution for these Trump catastrophes :
1. Inflation, driven by tariffs, is breaking the backs of Iowans. Trump won't budge.
2. Trump has a private war going on that is breaking the bank. Trump says wait. Soon.
3. Trump signed a law that obligated him to release the Epstein files, but he says anyone who forces him to uphold it is a traitor. How will you resolve this in a bipartisan way?
Nunn and Hinson had better join the 25th Amendment or Impeachment and Removal movements, the only proper bipartisan response. Right? No? Tell me why, Nunn and Hinson.
The election strategy you examined was first identified with Tricky Dick: run to the right in the primary election and then run to the center in the general.
Love the Lincoln anecdote, and as for these hypocrites who willingly sold their souls to please a buffoonish, corrupt, ailing authoritarian narcissist; watching them twist into pretzels pretending to be bipartisan won’t be satisfying. Merely disgusting.
I'm grimly reminded of a nature documentary I saw decades ago about bears living wild in our midst and the risk it creates. A conservation guy was commenting about the latest half-baked scheme to make some new human tweak, and his shrewd take was how we can always come up with a new "solution", rationalizing perpetually about how it's a "Win-Win" for people AND the bears. Except that after piling up more "win-wins" on top of each other, all of a sudden there's no bears anymore.
And so it goes with "bipartisanship," that gauzy mirage of Utopia shimmering on the horizon, a trance of perfect civic serenity Republicans evoke to hypnotize us into sleepwalking obliviously onto the "Win-Win" abbatior conveyor belt.
It all feels uncomfortably like being hectored again by a thuggish spouse, tearfully pleading with you you again how they'll change, even after they broke your eye socket last time & you're now in a shelter with two terrified preschool children trembling at your side.
“Your job? Pay attention. Don’t forget. Hold them all accountable.”
Excellent advice! Thank you.
Barry, as always you never disappoint. Thank you for pointing to these plodding examples of more pertinent legislative activity-like passing the farm bill while showing nothing for it but regress and denial of responsibility-at least the U.S. House passed its version but the Senate has yet to come up with its version. It seems the only action that they’ve done is to grease the wheels of authoritarianism by appropriating two massive budget packages $140 billion (2025), and an additional $70 billion package (2026) to ICE/CBP and to vote and act on how their leader wants them to vote, not the way their constituents have asked them to consider voting as alternatives.
Like you said there are so many examples of just towing the line, but to name a few: the Medicaid budget was significantly severed which will result in an estimated 120K Iowans being whittled away from health insurance due to changing qualifications to receive care. Or not extending the ACA tax credits, causing over an estimated 100K Iowans and their dependents to not have any healthcare insurance over the next ten years. It is estimated that by the end of 2026, more than 25K Iowans will have stopped their ACA enrollment coverage due to the rising cost of monthly premiums. Roughly 27% of farmers and rural households in Iowa have the ACA as their healthcare insurance. The harm upon dependents in those households is shameful thanks to these lockstep lackeys, voting for OBBBA legislation to give themselves and their billionaire lobbyist friends shameful privileges and tax cuts, in addition to executive level healthcare.
Spot on Barry. Hinson's recent ad declares that she works with both parties. Her claims of working against big insurance companies, fighting for veterans' care and being against Congressional stock trading ring hallow against her Trump fealty.
Great article, Barry. As the saying goes, When someone shows you who they are, believe them. And they have shown us over and over. And...thanks for the shout out!
Lincoln story is so good. Today's Republicans are trying the same trick with January 6—calling rioters "patriots," "tourists," or "picnickers." A new metaphor: putting a picnic blanket over a broken Capitol window doesn't turn a burglary into a picnic. Names don't erase reality.
Jim's thought: NO, I have not and will not forget — to hold each of them accountable. In my book Zach Nunn's name is spelled NONE & DONE. Ashley Hinson — a 'wealthy' henchman dressed in 'drag'. I'll stop there before my words become inappropriate. Not one of IOWA's "D.C. Six represent represent or speak for my political views.
Nunn, Hinson, and all Republicans can pretend they have all kinds of personal moral values and political bipartisanship, but if they voice any conflict with Trump's lies and lawbreaking, one threatening phone call from Trump will wipe that all away. What are their supposed bipartisan solution for these Trump catastrophes :
1. Inflation, driven by tariffs, is breaking the backs of Iowans. Trump won't budge.
2. Trump has a private war going on that is breaking the bank. Trump says wait. Soon.
3. Trump signed a law that obligated him to release the Epstein files, but he says anyone who forces him to uphold it is a traitor. How will you resolve this in a bipartisan way?
Nunn and Hinson had better join the 25th Amendment or Impeachment and Removal movements, the only proper bipartisan response. Right? No? Tell me why, Nunn and Hinson.
The election strategy you examined was first identified with Tricky Dick: run to the right in the primary election and then run to the center in the general.
Love the Lincoln anecdote, and as for these hypocrites who willingly sold their souls to please a buffoonish, corrupt, ailing authoritarian narcissist; watching them twist into pretzels pretending to be bipartisan won’t be satisfying. Merely disgusting.
I'm grimly reminded of a nature documentary I saw decades ago about bears living wild in our midst and the risk it creates. A conservation guy was commenting about the latest half-baked scheme to make some new human tweak, and his shrewd take was how we can always come up with a new "solution", rationalizing perpetually about how it's a "Win-Win" for people AND the bears. Except that after piling up more "win-wins" on top of each other, all of a sudden there's no bears anymore.
And so it goes with "bipartisanship," that gauzy mirage of Utopia shimmering on the horizon, a trance of perfect civic serenity Republicans evoke to hypnotize us into sleepwalking obliviously onto the "Win-Win" abbatior conveyor belt.
It all feels uncomfortably like being hectored again by a thuggish spouse, tearfully pleading with you you again how they'll change, even after they broke your eye socket last time & you're now in a shelter with two terrified preschool children trembling at your side.
Do not be fooled again!
Let’s just hope enough of our fellow Iowans pull their heads out of their asses and pay attention. And then vote accordingly!!!!