A Good Question

I don't remember where I heard or saw this the other day, but it is worth considering.  "Why bother voting for Republicans?"  I most often don't vote for Republicans (or Democrats for that matter); I didn't vote for Trump (nor Clinton) and didn't vote for Snyder either time (nor his Democrat opponents).  I'm not arguing policy or philosophy here (Well, maybe I am?), but rather realities.

The Republicans have been given, nationally, control of Congress and the White House.  Yet, the headlines the other day blared, "Spending deal shows Dems' clout."  Huh?  What "clout?"  The Democrats lost the election in November, were hammered.  What "clout?"

What's with this "reaching across the aisle?"  "bipartisanship?"  "compromise?"  I don't recall much of that coming from the  Democrats the previous eight years.  Perhaps it's a one-way street.  Voters didn't vote for Republicans to "reach across the aisle."

Take that budget.  Why is there still funding for Planned Parenthood, although there might have been a cut?  (Who can go through the multi-paged monstrosities Congress passes?  Members of Congress themselves can't go through those bills.)  Why the money still going to "sanctuary cities," who openly defy the law?  (Why can't you and I openly break the law, say, not pay our income taxes and get away with it?)  Where were the Republicans who campaigned against "PP" and "sanctuary?"  Why didn't the President veto the bill?

And not to discuss the merits of the new House bill on health care, but what happened to "We're going to repeal Obamacare?"  Oh, the Establishment Republicans were rough and tough in passing, what?, 50-some bills to repeal it when there was no chance of Obama signing any of them into law.  Yep, they were very courageous then.  Now, with a President to pledged to do the same thing, "repeal," they bail.  Of course, who knows what this President would do--veto?

Congress created this mess, yet it wants to kick the can to the states?  Members of Congress don't want to be the bad guys, but are willing to see if the state legislators will?  From the actions of the states in the aftermath of Obamacare (well, at least Michigan), there's little chance of that happening.

Again I ask, why can't these politicians be sued for fraud?  They make promises on the campaign trails, apparently with no intention of keeping them.  When elected, the liars break those promises that got them elected.  And those few who stand up for what they said are marginalized and penalized by their own Establishment parties.  Of course, it's futile to expect any of these liars to be shamed; there is no sense of shame any longer.  (Instead of crawling into a hole to hide, a former President who had sex in the Oval Office, then lied to the American people about it, and was impeached, now commands hundreds of thousands of dollars for a speech and is looked upon by his party as an elder spokesman.)  Shame?  What's that?

Around here, it's been a particularly nasty week.  A seven-year old girl was shot in the head/neck when someone(s) opened fire on the house in which she was sleeping.  Five men sitting in a van in a gas station were shot up (one or two died).  A police officer was shot in the head by a guy who opened fire on him; the guy was himself shot and killed.  There were shootings in some of the suburbs, too.  Where does this attitude derive?  Why do people think they can just start shooting other people?  It's yet another of life's mysteries to me.

The story just seems to get recycled.  A "pit bull mix" mauled two other people.  The dog was the pet (?) of a man who lived with his mother.  Both his mother and a friend were in intensive care at area hospitals.  "It's not my fault," said the dog's owner.  This was after the dog reportedly had attacked the mother before, resulting in 30+ stitches.  "It's not my fault."

I joked, but only a bit, with some folks last week about some students showing up to take their final exams--without bringing paper or any writing utensils, no pencils, no pens.  I can't imagine that, esp going back to my student days (The Stone Ages).  Then, again yesterday, it happened again.  In handing out the exam, a student asked, "Do you have a pencil?"  And she had no paper, either.  Maybe she was going to write her essays on the table/desk, but her finger ran out of ink?

I bought a book of New York Times Sunday Crosswords.  Some are 70 and 80 years old!  The first couple appeared before Pearl Harbor.  And, they used to be a whole lot more difficult than they are now.  They are very hard.  It's not just that some of the clues are from the '30s and '40s.  I think some of the words have fallen out of usage.  Some of the popular names/places aren't so popular 70 and 80 years later.  But they are fun and I am enjoying them.

Apparently there is a widespread scam going on regarding the IRS.  People are getting phone calls that the IRS has "issued an arrest warrant" for failure to pay back taxes.  "Immediately" call such-and-such a number for help and "to avoid arrest."  I rec'd such a call.  I checked the phone number online and found numerous others who have reported the same scam.  First, the IRS was going to "arrest" me for $128?  (K paid it, against my wishes.)  Second, the IRS has enough resources to come after me for $128, but such phone scams aren't worth investigation or "arresting" the perpetrators?

It was great to listen to one of our local radio personalities be his usual obsequious self to a politician guest.  But when the guest pointed out the mistakes the governor and his office made regarding the Flint water crisis, the host started mumbling and bumbling.  "Well, er, uh......" finally adding, "There are other factors......"  Yeah, right.