Trump is a loser – bigly. He promised that his first priority was to repeal and replace Obamacare. He said he’d provide coverage to more people, for lower cost, and with better care. He worked with Paul Ryan and got a bill created that would result in 24 million people losing coverage.
The bill also allowed insurance companies to reject people for pre-existing conditions, unlike Obamacare. It increased costs to low income people and even to middle income folks over 50 years of age. It also eliminated any requirements for policies to cover maternity care, and of course birth control.
Who benefitted from Trump’s plan? Wealthy people did, because he reduced taxes on them. Insurance companies did because he eliminated requirements they disliked. Insurance executives did, because restrictions on tax deductibility for their salaries were eliminated.
Who opposed the plan? First, hard right wingers did, because they wanted no kind of government related health insurance. Moderate Republicans who were listening to their constituents opposed it, as well. So did doctor’s associations, hospital associations, and AARP.
Trump is a whiner. He said the bill lost because no Democrats supported it, so that made it the fault of the Democrats. He has to be kidding. After eight years of the GOP opposing everything Obama proposed, the Democrats should roll over and back something that only 17% of the voters approved.
Beyond that, not a single Republican, either in the House or the Senate voted for Obamacare. Guess what, Obama and the Democratic leadership got it passed anyhow. How did they do it? Well, they worked to get interest groups behind the bill. They horse traded to get something for enough people to get the necessary support.
Trump calls himself a deal maker and a negotiator. Well if he really were, he’d have been able to negotiate with the various stakeholders and make the deals necessary to get his bill passed. He couldn’t get it done because he is a failure and a loser, who has to blame everyone else for his failures.
Trump is a loser, a whiner, and a failure, who can’t keep his promises or make a deal or negotiate a damned thing except ways to make money for himself. Even then he has to cheat his investors, lenders, contractors, and customers to make money. The only things he is good at are lying, bullshitting, stealing, and selling himself.
Friday, March 24, 2017
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Trumpcare
So now we are told that if Congress does not pass the bill tomorrow, Trump will drop it and move on to something else. I thought Trump was supposed to be a winner. When Obama was getting Obamacare passed, there were months of review and negotiation. The president and Congress tried to line up support both in Congress and among the general public for the bill.
They made changes, and worked with various constituencies to get what they needed to get a bill passed. That sounds to me like a winner. What doesn’t sound like a winner is to walk away if you can’t get everything you want and get it now. That sounds very much like a loser. Seriously, if they really wanted to get a replacement passed for Obamacare, they would look at the objections to the new bill, negotiate with the opponents, and find enough common ground to build a consensus on.
A winner doesn’t walk away just because things aren’t going their way. A master negotiator will negotiate and find commonalities among the needs of the stakeholders. They would get on a bully pulpit and convince the voters that this is the best solution. But it is already obvious that the only people for whom this is the best solution are the insurance companies and the most wealthy Americans.
We already know the new bill would cause some 24 million people to lose insurance. We already know that for the poorest people and the older people costs would rise significantly. We know many important things like preexisting conditions, maternity coverage, and many other types of women’s coverage would be eliminated. We know funding for medical care for poor people would be slashed. We know there would be massive tax breaks for the wealthiest 10% of the populations.
The latest poll I saw said the new bill had the support of only 17% of voters. Criminy, Obamacare had far more support both when it passed and most of the time since. Members of Congress have been deluged by their constituents telling them not to vote for this bill. Physician groups, hospital groups, and AARP all oppose this bill.
When he ran for office, Trump said he would get a replacement for Obamacare that would have more people covered, for less money, and with better care. Instead he is pushing a bill which seems to do exactly the opposite. Perhaps oddly enough, the people who would be most hurt by this bill are people who voted for Trump.
A smart man, upon seeing both the effects of the bill and the opposition to it, would have called for major changes, or would quietly have disavowed himself from it. Trump has done neither, but then again, he is more bluster than smarts, quite apart from what he claims. One can only hope that Trumpcare goes down in flames.
They made changes, and worked with various constituencies to get what they needed to get a bill passed. That sounds to me like a winner. What doesn’t sound like a winner is to walk away if you can’t get everything you want and get it now. That sounds very much like a loser. Seriously, if they really wanted to get a replacement passed for Obamacare, they would look at the objections to the new bill, negotiate with the opponents, and find enough common ground to build a consensus on.
A winner doesn’t walk away just because things aren’t going their way. A master negotiator will negotiate and find commonalities among the needs of the stakeholders. They would get on a bully pulpit and convince the voters that this is the best solution. But it is already obvious that the only people for whom this is the best solution are the insurance companies and the most wealthy Americans.
We already know the new bill would cause some 24 million people to lose insurance. We already know that for the poorest people and the older people costs would rise significantly. We know many important things like preexisting conditions, maternity coverage, and many other types of women’s coverage would be eliminated. We know funding for medical care for poor people would be slashed. We know there would be massive tax breaks for the wealthiest 10% of the populations.
The latest poll I saw said the new bill had the support of only 17% of voters. Criminy, Obamacare had far more support both when it passed and most of the time since. Members of Congress have been deluged by their constituents telling them not to vote for this bill. Physician groups, hospital groups, and AARP all oppose this bill.
When he ran for office, Trump said he would get a replacement for Obamacare that would have more people covered, for less money, and with better care. Instead he is pushing a bill which seems to do exactly the opposite. Perhaps oddly enough, the people who would be most hurt by this bill are people who voted for Trump.
A smart man, upon seeing both the effects of the bill and the opposition to it, would have called for major changes, or would quietly have disavowed himself from it. Trump has done neither, but then again, he is more bluster than smarts, quite apart from what he claims. One can only hope that Trumpcare goes down in flames.
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Heteronormativity & Transphobia
For the squeamish, the following does get a little graphic in places – just fair warning.
I found myself in an argument with a radical trans activist recently. It started around the question of whether one would date a trans person. Now my sexual orientation is attraction to women. I like the shape of a woman’s face, I like the shape of a woman’s body, and I like ‘interacting’ with female body parts.
I stated that were I currently dating, I would have no problem with dating a trans woman. There are some trans women who I find quite attractive, and the fact that they are trans would not bother me. I said however that for me to be sexually intimate with a trans woman, she’d have to have a vagina, meaning she’d have to have had what is referred to as ‘bottom surgery’ or vaginoplasty or gender correction surgery AKA gender reassignment surgery.
There are extreme trans activists, including one I argued with online, who would call me transphobic for not wanting to have sex with a trans woman who still had a penis. As I said, I like ‘interacting’ with female body parts. That is not limited to breasts, but also includes the vagina. I’m quite happy to give a woman pleasure by stimulating her vagina in a number of ways, including stroking, oral stimulation, and regular old coitus.
I prefer to get my pleasure through coitus, particularly face to face, and don’t much care which of several face to face positions we use. I’ve done ‘doggy style’ and it’s fine, but prefer to be able to see and kiss the woman during sex. Unlike many men, I don’t care to receive oral stimulation, and don’t care for anal either. I’ve tried both, and they just aren’t the same. At the same time, I have no interest whatsoever in pleasuring someone else’s penis through oral or anal. Let me be clear, I don't care what gender one was assigned at birth, nor do I care what gender you identify as now. If the person has a penis, I have no interest in having sex with them.
That’s my hangup, and while it excludes some trans women, it isn’t because they are trans, but is because they have not fully transitioned. Now I understand some trans women choose not to fully transition, and still others do not have the funds for the surgery. Some live and dress as women and undergo hormone replacement therapy, but do not have their genitalia rebuilt from male to female genitalia.
That is their right, and if they identify as women, I have no problem with considering them to be women, but if they still have a penis and not a vagina, I don’t wish to have sex with them. That is my sexual orientation, and I don’t see why that should cause me to be considered transphobic. I neither fear nor hate trans individuals. I don’t wish to treat them any different from cisgender people. I don’t wish to deny them rights, or determine which bathrooms they have access to.
Hell, for what it’s worth, there are many cisgender women I don’t wish to have sex with for many reasons. Not every woman is someone I would be romantically or sexually attracted to. There are a variety of factors involved in what I find attractive, and I don’t know that I could even list them all, even if I wanted to. Sometimes women who I think I wouldn’t be attracted to, I end up finding I am, while others for whom I have an initial attraction, I find other factors lessening that draw.
Whether or not someone was assigned female at birth is not among the factors that I really even care about. I do want a particular set of genitalia, and some female appearance – though I’ve found myself drawn to some very attractive androgynous looking women at times.
I pointed out to the person I was arguing with that Janet Mock, who is a prominent trans woman and activist says explicitly that she is a heteronormative trans woman, meaning that she is exclusively attracted to men. The woman told me that in that case, Ms. Mock was transphobic. I pretty much ceased arguing at that point, since I felt the person was beyond reason.
Folks, not all trans allies are pansexual. Some of us are basically either heterosexual or homosexual in orientation and that implies a wish for the body parts associated with the gender that the other person identifies as. For a bisexual person, I’m not sure how many would care whether the genitalia matched the gender identification. For some it might, and others it might not.
Regardless, we each have the right to choose romantic or sexual partners based on what attracts us and for many, the genitalia are a part of that. I don’t feel it is transphobic to prefer a particular set of genitalia. As I said, I don’t care whether those are the genitalia the person was born with, if the person otherwise attracts me. I do care which set they have.
I found myself in an argument with a radical trans activist recently. It started around the question of whether one would date a trans person. Now my sexual orientation is attraction to women. I like the shape of a woman’s face, I like the shape of a woman’s body, and I like ‘interacting’ with female body parts.
I stated that were I currently dating, I would have no problem with dating a trans woman. There are some trans women who I find quite attractive, and the fact that they are trans would not bother me. I said however that for me to be sexually intimate with a trans woman, she’d have to have a vagina, meaning she’d have to have had what is referred to as ‘bottom surgery’ or vaginoplasty or gender correction surgery AKA gender reassignment surgery.
There are extreme trans activists, including one I argued with online, who would call me transphobic for not wanting to have sex with a trans woman who still had a penis. As I said, I like ‘interacting’ with female body parts. That is not limited to breasts, but also includes the vagina. I’m quite happy to give a woman pleasure by stimulating her vagina in a number of ways, including stroking, oral stimulation, and regular old coitus.
I prefer to get my pleasure through coitus, particularly face to face, and don’t much care which of several face to face positions we use. I’ve done ‘doggy style’ and it’s fine, but prefer to be able to see and kiss the woman during sex. Unlike many men, I don’t care to receive oral stimulation, and don’t care for anal either. I’ve tried both, and they just aren’t the same. At the same time, I have no interest whatsoever in pleasuring someone else’s penis through oral or anal. Let me be clear, I don't care what gender one was assigned at birth, nor do I care what gender you identify as now. If the person has a penis, I have no interest in having sex with them.
That is their right, and if they identify as women, I have no problem with considering them to be women, but if they still have a penis and not a vagina, I don’t wish to have sex with them. That is my sexual orientation, and I don’t see why that should cause me to be considered transphobic. I neither fear nor hate trans individuals. I don’t wish to treat them any different from cisgender people. I don’t wish to deny them rights, or determine which bathrooms they have access to.
Hell, for what it’s worth, there are many cisgender women I don’t wish to have sex with for many reasons. Not every woman is someone I would be romantically or sexually attracted to. There are a variety of factors involved in what I find attractive, and I don’t know that I could even list them all, even if I wanted to. Sometimes women who I think I wouldn’t be attracted to, I end up finding I am, while others for whom I have an initial attraction, I find other factors lessening that draw.
Whether or not someone was assigned female at birth is not among the factors that I really even care about. I do want a particular set of genitalia, and some female appearance – though I’ve found myself drawn to some very attractive androgynous looking women at times.
I pointed out to the person I was arguing with that Janet Mock, who is a prominent trans woman and activist says explicitly that she is a heteronormative trans woman, meaning that she is exclusively attracted to men. The woman told me that in that case, Ms. Mock was transphobic. I pretty much ceased arguing at that point, since I felt the person was beyond reason.
Folks, not all trans allies are pansexual. Some of us are basically either heterosexual or homosexual in orientation and that implies a wish for the body parts associated with the gender that the other person identifies as. For a bisexual person, I’m not sure how many would care whether the genitalia matched the gender identification. For some it might, and others it might not.
Regardless, we each have the right to choose romantic or sexual partners based on what attracts us and for many, the genitalia are a part of that. I don’t feel it is transphobic to prefer a particular set of genitalia. As I said, I don’t care whether those are the genitalia the person was born with, if the person otherwise attracts me. I do care which set they have.
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