Links for 2/20/20

Links for 2/20/20
I missed Rachel that night. It is unpredictable when MSW watches her and I don't. Sadly, being unpredictable and out of the box is also a great way to be ignored.

Gerson misses the boat. Evangelicals and Catholics are both concerned about sex as part of the issue, but Catholics favor more social services and Evangelicals call this socialism. Second, it is time to get clear about what being pro-life is. The movement is not about giving rights to puppies (who would be against puppies?). It is about whether the Congress should create governmental power to investigate the end of any and all pregnancies for the benefit of the unborn and punish those who violate it (including those who procure murder). If we are clear, there is no justification for doing so. Not being clear is a lie. The only reasonable avenue is to enact economic benefits for families so that all children, regardless of parental income, receive an income at lower middle class levels - mostly at the expense of the upper middle and the childless.

Unless they put Tulsi Gabbard on the debate stage, there is nothing that the GOP can do that would be very disruptive. If Carolina Republicans want to spend the rest of their lives on Democratic mailing lists, they will pay for their trouble. By giving Trump a pass on being an idiot authoritarian, they are giving themselves Mike Pence (aka, Mr. Charisma) the nomination once SDNY goes to Schiff with proof that Trump is Rudi's agent. Maybe they should run Tulsi in the GOP. Putin loves her.

The wealth tax is a sin tax on wealth that will never pass. A 24% asset VAT on all capital income with a zero rating for ESOP sales would be truly progressive. It simply makes capital gains taxes enforceable. Not enacting such a tax proves that cheating is the true GOP value. The reality is that any of the candidates will sign what Schiff and Schumer send them. My concern is what Sanders would do about Russia and the military. I don't see him being credible debating Pence on this.

At some point, the choice is about who should get the job. If it is between two billionaires, I will vote for the one who is not an idiot. Between Pence and Sanders, I need to hear about foreign policy. Abolishing ICE is Democratic debate bait. No one expects it. As for Trump, he won because the Russians or his oppo research told him that Clinton was soft on partial birth abortion and would pander to her base rather than calling Trump an idiot for not knowing that it is already illegal. That the Midwestern Catholic bishops were ready for this does not bode well for the Church. Nothing is hidden will not be revealed.

The new moral center is marriage equality and acceptance of early abortion, but not partial birth abortion. Racial and sexual issues are always, and have always been, a chief tool of the monied class to keep the peasants in their camp. This is not a new thing.

Bloomberg's claim to be a manger shows he has no idea what the job of a president is. He is an amoral Capitalist. The nation needs a moral leader with vision and the ability to think on her feet when tested by our enemies. I want to see Amy and Elizabeth talk about defense some time soon. Everyone else is either too old or too young.

The modern family is about no one being in charge. Any explanation that does not stress this is out of date, at least if it assumes that it is always the man. Anyone with a Jewish grandmother knows who is in charge. Oy!

What an America it would be if we considered all offenders (except the untreated sociopaths) as ill and not evil. The question is how to identify the latter so that they do not harm the former (or the rest of us.