Shit that Pissed me Off – 2/8/19
Hello and welcome to 2019! I’ve not been blogging a lot for the last several weeks because I was on vacation and on vacation I shouldn’t have to think about things like the Government shutdown that is (temporarily) over.
I mean, I still did because a bunch of stuff was shut down at Kennedy Space Center because the NASA employees were furloughed. And TSA agents were working without pay so I never knew if my travel plans were going to have a gigantic wrench thrown into them because of a sick out (which I would have been 100% behind but it still would have been annoying).
Oh, and I couldn’t visit a National Park in the Virgin Islands. For which you should not feel bad because I was still in the Virgin Islands.
So I guess I still had to deal with the shutdown a little. And it was annoying because that shit was stupid.
Anyway, I’m back on my bloggy horse. Let’s see what we’ve got!
Road Rage Dude Shoots a School Bus Driver
Here in Minnesota we have had some really shitty weather. This shouldn’t surprise folks because it is February in Minnesota.
Last week we had some really cold weather (I’m going to talk about that more later) and this week we just had stupid little snow storms that fucked up rush hour driving. For three fucking days in a row.
Now that sounds annoying and it is. But it is something we should be used to because we are from Minnesota and it happens ever year.
Know what we call this in Minnesota? Tuesday.
For Kenneth Lily, however, it was more than he could handle. After a fender bender accident, the security guard (who was a good guy with a gun until he was magically transformed into a bad guy with a gun) got out of his car and proceeded to five five rounds at the driver of a school bus. The driver, a 73 year old man who was clearly a threat, was hit in the arm and grazed in the head. Fortunately, he survived.
So did Lily, who claims he was in fear for his life (sure he was) and who waited for the police to arrive at which point he was arrested without incident.
Yes, he’s white. How did you know?
What have I forgotten?
Oh yeah – there was an eight year old child on the bus.
Lily is also free on bail pending a hearing.
I mean….what the actual fuck?
A white guy shoots an elderly school bus driver and he is free on bail? How do you look at a guy who fires his gun at a school bus and say “yeah – I’m OK with him not being in jail?”
Were the cells too full of marijuana users?
Because if they were, I have an idea…
Shit that Pissed me Off – 5/5
Republicans Pass Their New Health Care Bill
I mean, I’m not panicking yet. It is possible the more “moderate” Senate will pass a more “moderate” bill and when this whole thing gets to reconciliation, national health care won’t be as fucked as it will should the House bill become actual law.
Sitting in this seat with a pre-existing condition, I’m worried. I think forcing insurance companies to do away with the pre-existing condition clause was one of the most important parts of the Affordable Care Act.
The legislation looks like it will reduce taxes for wealthy Americans (how fortunate they must feel), increase premiums for people in their 50’s and 60’s, and replace reduced cost health care with tax credits.
Coming soon from Hasbro: the Tax Credits edition of Scabble (TM)
I like tax credits. I mean sort of. When you get a tax credit for your health insurance, though, it isn’t the same as paying that much less for your insurance. It means you end up paying a little bit less in taxes. But not the same amount.
So in the end, this bill does what a lot of other conservative bills have done – it reduces the tax burden on rich people and replaces is with a greater expense burden on everyone else.
Rich people with diabetes will still be able to afford their insulin. Middle class people with diabetes will be able to afford their insulin but might have to work an extra job when it is time to send their kids to college. Poor people with diabetes will complain about how they can’t afford their insulin and then be criticized for owning a television.
I mean seriously, why can’t they just sit in their shitty apartment and spend all their spare time thinking about why it’s their fault they are poor?
Shit That Pissed Me Off – 6/13
George Will Is Unsurprisingly Tone Deaf When It Comes To Rape
Nobody expected anything less from Mr. Will, right? When he writes about rape on college campuses, he’s not going to come off as particularly sympathetic to the victims, right?
Well, he sure doesn’t. He gives an example of a rape story he thinks is a false accusation and when I read it, I see an example of a young woman being raped.
I know, I know. I say “tomato” and George Will says “tomato.” I say “rape” and George Will says “Sexual Misunderstanding.”
Why is rape insensitivity primarily a conservative trait? Is it just that conservatives are dumb enough to say it out loud? They always seem to be trying to find some way to ignore rape statistics. Will doesn’t believe the numbers so he goes through an analysis of one set of numbers to prove that they all must be wrong.
He’s a smart guy, right? He knows that the single set of numbers he’s using don’t actually constitute and kind of proof, right?
I don’t think he cares. He was looking to torpedo the Obama administration because he’s a conservative columnist and that’s what he’s paid to do. What he managed to do was tell every rape victim on college campuses that what happened to them isn’t so bad.
BTW, I don’t think most conservatives are rape apologists. They need to be telling the conservatives stepping up to the microphone to stop because I don’t think George Will is going to listen to me.
Grail Diary 