Tomorrow
is Thanksgiving.
My
wife Andrea, my daughter Randi and I will be venturing forth from the Fortress
of Ineptitude (home of a brand new properly functioning toilet!) to spend time
with… family.
One
of the parties in attendance is a very successful and nominally intelligent
financial advisor who is in a high enough income bracket to have voted for
Trump because he’s looking for that sweet tax cut as well as to cut some of the
regulatory red tape around the financial planning industry. I also suspect he
might be slightly misogynist but that’s probably not a fair assessment for me
to make. Just because Trump is overtly misogynist doesn’t mean I should apply
those same attributes to his supporters.
Another
person is an old white dude who is very friendly and kind and he agrees with
Trump that kneeling football players should be shot… I mean fired. Or whatever.
And we should be able to say “Merry Christmas” if you want to.
On
the other hand, the food is good, there is wine to go with the good food and I
didn’t pay for any if it so I am grateful for the generosity and graciousness
of our hosts.
Hopefully,
discussions of a political nature will be curbed.
Just
in case. here is a checklist of
potential political topics that may come up.
Election
Fraud
Short
answer: there ain’t none.
Ironic
answer: candidates who were ahead on election night cried “FRAUD! FRAUD, I
say!” Ultimately these same candidates prevailed through recounts to still
win.
In
a stab at political theater, Rick Scott ordered law enforcement to probe his
allegations of fraud. Florida state police checked and said, “Look, no fraud
going on here.”
So
the election is riddled with fraud except when it goes your way.
Caution:
some of these points may contain excessive snark.
Pre-existing
Conditions
During
the recent campaign, TV ads and mailers from Democrats decried Republicans for
trying to take away insurance protections for pre-existing conditions.
During
the recent campaign, TV ads and mailers from Republicans denounced Democrats
for lying about Republicans trying to take away insurance protections for
pre-existing
conditions.
Prior
to the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, private insurers could deny coverage
to sick people who were not insured by their employers or the government. They could
also
offer them a health plan that excluded coverage for their pre-existing
condition, or charge higher prices.
Republican
efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare have all aimed to retain the guarantee that
past conditions would be no bar to new coverage. Republican proposals for ACA
replacement did not provide the same certitude of ACA guarantees for
pre-existing conditions but no one campaigned to actively cut out those
protections.
Democrats
Are Socialists
Do
Democratic want to turn the United States into Venezuela or Cuba?
Ooh
boy!
Socialism
is when the government owns (or at least controls) the means of production.
The
expansion of already available social programs and potentially raising taxes to
do so is not socialism in that “red scare communism” sense of the word.
MedIcare
The
most aggressive proposal by Democrats to expand health care coverage is Medicare
for All.
Trump
has suggested that Medicare for All would obliterate Medicare.
The
proposed new system would exchange Medicare and Medicare Advantage as they
stand for a new program with more generous coverage. Nobody covered by Medicare
now would lose coverage under this plan.
Sanctuary
cities
I
hope no one tomorrow gives thanks they do not live in a sanctuary city where
there is rioting in the streets.
In
recent rallies, Trump said that criminals and gang members were being released
into communities en masse.
FALSE!
Trump
said people were rioting in California over sanctuary cities.
FALSE!
Trump
said "thousands upon thousands of illegal alien criminals and vicious
gangmembers" were preying on the streets in Pennsylvania.
FALSE!
He
also said ICE liberated towns from the violent MS-13 gang.
FALSE!
I
really do not have a more cogent response to any of these talking points under
than to proclaim FALSE but damn, there’s not a lot of nuance to be parsed here.
All these statements made by Trump are simply not true.
The
caravan
On
this topic, I can’t do much better than to just proclaim the falsity of various
statements.
Migrants
in the caravan caught on camera burning
the American flag?
FALSE!
Middle
Easterners mixed in with the caravan? No evidence to support that.
The
caravan is not an "invasion". It is not an organized, armed group.
The caravan is a loose collection of migrants looking to escape a life of
crushing poverty and excessive
violence.
Other
shit that might come up.
Black
Panthers waged war in the streets of Atlanta? FALSE!
The
guy who sent pipe bombs to people who are critical of the president is a
Democrat posing as a Republican? Nope! Not true!
Democrats
voted twice in Maryland? Nope, they did not.
Voters
changed clothes to vote more than once in Georgia? Not true!
Eventually,
having exhausted my patience with saying “That’s not true” over and over, my
family will take our leave and go see Ralph Breaks the Internet
