Now that Donald J. Trump is the president of the United States, progressives, liberals and Democrats need to wrap their mind around a wartime concept that violates The Hague Convention:
No quarter asked nor given.
What does that mean? According to Wikipedia, in war, a victor gives "no quarter" (or takes no prisoners) when the victor shows no clemency or mercy and refuses to spare the life of a vanquished opponent in return for their unconditional surrender.
No amount of protest or persuasion is going to change the fact that President Trump has no intention of compromising on the more inflammatory ideals he campaigned on -- the wall, repealing Obamacare, not acknowledging climate change, rolling back regulations because they are regulations, a Muslim registry, the deportation of Dreamers.
Republicans are so drunk with their power that they don't care what ideological compromises they made to get it. They backed a sexist, racist, xenophobic, Islamaphobic candidate without remorse. The President's inaugural speech showed no signs of trying to heal wounds and create an inclusive vision of America. Nope, he played to his base. I don't know what the Republican party stands for anymore. Neither do they.
But I do know this: Unlike Chrisette Michele, my dignity is not for sale and not for compromise. "No quarter asked nor given" is, for me, a battle cry. I will ask no quarter from this administration and expect none. I expect that the institutions and ideals that President Obama held dear and fought for will be eliminated, undermined, and under constant attack. I expect that no matter who is hurt, especially with the repeal of the Affordable Care Act -- and, dear broke-ass red state people, that means "Obamacare," since you don't know they are one in the same -- President Trump will try to deliver on his populist promises. And the Republican party, with a majority in both houses of Congress, will piggyback on Trump's agenda by adding in their own policy wet dreams -- defunding Planned Parenthood, drilling off the coasts and in Alaska, you name it.
I intend to do what I said I'd do: Put my family and friends in a position to weather this political storm until 2018 or 2020. I will weather this political storm because I firmly believe in the strength and resilience that was imbued in me by my black parents and in them by their black parents. But I will not attempt to persuade or negotiate with people who share Trump's beliefs for any compromise or, as many have suggested, "get behind the new president." No, this president is unlike any other. I know of no president in my lifetime who came to office by insulting an entire race of people (Mexicans), an entire religion (Islam), a disabled person, women, the free (for now) press, Gold Star parents, even Republican standard bearer John McCain. I don't care how many jobs President Trump promises or delivers, I will not normalize achieving political power by demeaning people based on race, gender, religion -- you know, the same kinds of categories that are protected from discrimination under federal law, at least for now. To do so would be to compromise my dignity, the dignity that my ancestors fought and died for. The dignity that Chrisette Michele sold for $750,000 and won't ever be able to buy back. (Can you tell I'm a disappointed Chrisette Michele fan?)
I will not normalize the administration of Donald J. Trump. I. Will. Not.
No quarter asked nor given.
Showing posts with label Obamacare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obamacare. Show all posts
What the GOP Could Learn from a P-I-M-P (And Get the Government Running Again) (NSFW)
We're on Day 14 of the government shutdown, all because Speaker Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell don't know how to keep their party in check. There's a lot that the GOP could learn from a P-I-M-P. Hell, there's a lot they could have learned from Nancy Pelosi, who still keeps her party in check without benefit or need of the title of Speaker.
Mind you, I've written admiringly about pimps before, not because I respect what they do, but because I respect their ability to get something so morally bankrupt done with minimal (or minimized) transaction costs. If pimps (well, real pimps, not government pimps) were running the GOP, Senator Ted Cruz' idiot idea of shutting down the government until Obamacare was defunded would not have gotten far. (And kudos to Bob Schieffer for repeatedly asking how the GOP let Ted Cruz get this far. As far as I'm concerned, Bob Schieffer is the only thinking journalist on the Sunday morning talk show circuit.)
You see, pimpin' runs on rules and hierarchy that maintain smooth relations (and pardon the language -- it's the language of pimpin', not mine). Rule: A bitch can't look a pimp in the eye. Rule: When a pimp is walking on the sidewalk, a bitch gets off of it. Rule: A bitch can't talk to pimps other than her own. Rule: A pimp's bottom bitch has seniority and priority over the pimp's other bitches.
If seniority and hierarchy account for anything, and analogizing to pimpin', how is it that Senator Ted Cruz, who is, shall we say, "new to the game," able to lead a cabal of new bitches to shut down the government without the pimps (party leaders) keeping them in check? At the very least, no government shutdown formed in Congress should have gone off without the say-so of Speaker Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as well as the say-so of more senior pimps, uh, leaders, like Senator John McCain (Mack of the Year, 2008). Even if the party leaders agreed with it, they, and not the Tea Party bitches new to the game, should have been leading the shutdown and deciding what terms would lead to the government's reopening, not the other way around. GOP, where are your rules? Where is your hierarchy? Where is your pimp game?
If Senator Cruz were a bitch, he'd be considered "out of pocket." The other pimps would have had permission to beat him for being "out of pocket" and leading the other bitches astray.
I guess the GOP's senior pimps, uh, leaders, have absolutely no pimp game whatsoever and definitely less than Nancy Pelosi. Imagine that.
Could someone from the GOP call Too Short so we can get the government running again?
Oh, and Speaker Boehner, the first rule of pimpin'? Don't love them bitches. Just sayin'.
Mind you, I've written admiringly about pimps before, not because I respect what they do, but because I respect their ability to get something so morally bankrupt done with minimal (or minimized) transaction costs. If pimps (well, real pimps, not government pimps) were running the GOP, Senator Ted Cruz' idiot idea of shutting down the government until Obamacare was defunded would not have gotten far. (And kudos to Bob Schieffer for repeatedly asking how the GOP let Ted Cruz get this far. As far as I'm concerned, Bob Schieffer is the only thinking journalist on the Sunday morning talk show circuit.)
You see, pimpin' runs on rules and hierarchy that maintain smooth relations (and pardon the language -- it's the language of pimpin', not mine). Rule: A bitch can't look a pimp in the eye. Rule: When a pimp is walking on the sidewalk, a bitch gets off of it. Rule: A bitch can't talk to pimps other than her own. Rule: A pimp's bottom bitch has seniority and priority over the pimp's other bitches.
If seniority and hierarchy account for anything, and analogizing to pimpin', how is it that Senator Ted Cruz, who is, shall we say, "new to the game," able to lead a cabal of new bitches to shut down the government without the pimps (party leaders) keeping them in check? At the very least, no government shutdown formed in Congress should have gone off without the say-so of Speaker Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as well as the say-so of more senior pimps, uh, leaders, like Senator John McCain (Mack of the Year, 2008). Even if the party leaders agreed with it, they, and not the Tea Party bitches new to the game, should have been leading the shutdown and deciding what terms would lead to the government's reopening, not the other way around. GOP, where are your rules? Where is your hierarchy? Where is your pimp game?
If Senator Cruz were a bitch, he'd be considered "out of pocket." The other pimps would have had permission to beat him for being "out of pocket" and leading the other bitches astray.
I guess the GOP's senior pimps, uh, leaders, have absolutely no pimp game whatsoever and definitely less than Nancy Pelosi. Imagine that.
Could someone from the GOP call Too Short so we can get the government running again?
Oh, and Speaker Boehner, the first rule of pimpin'? Don't love them bitches. Just sayin'.
Dear Mr. President: Don't Blink, But Do Fart On Their Heads
Dear Mr. President,
When boys wrestle, especially brothers, the ultimate in victory is for the winning boy to not only sit on head of the defeated boy, but to fart on his head as well. In families, it's usually the older brother who ends up sitting and farting on the head of his younger brother as a deterrent to future challenges. Mr. President, you didn't grow up with brothers, but there's a lesson to be learned from the wrestling of boys.
But first, Mr. President, I have a message for you from my sister regarding this standoff with congressional Republicans: Don't blink.
In this standoff/government shutdown, there's far more at stake than just a budget or the debt ceiling. As you've so aptly put it, what is at stake is the ability to govern without being forced into false crises created by a small contingent of Republicans who are out of step with the majority of the nation. So my sister's advice to you, Mr. President, is to continue to stand toe-to-toe with them and don't even think about blinking. Don't flinch. Stand your ground. Which leads to a message from me:
Don't just sit on their heads; fart on their heads.
I, like so many other Americans, am so weary of Tea Party efforts to derail the Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare." It's the law. They need to get over it and move on. The rest of the country has. Given that many of these representatives represent broke-ass states with people who desperately need health care (and could stand to back away from the fast food joints and processed foods in general) but fear anything with the word "Obama" in it, they ought to just move on. But shutting down the government and threatening the first U.S. government default ever? Now that deserves not just sitting on their heads, but farting on them, too.
The Republicans know they have backed themselves into a corner and are looking for a way out. They know that, the longer this goes on, the more dim their hopes become of recapturing the White House in 2016. They know all of this, but like a little brother wrestling his older, bigger brother, they don't know how to get out of this political headlock that will eventually lead to the political equivalent of you not just sitting on their heads, but farting on them as well.
When they capitulate, and they will, Mr. President, take that victory lap. Do whatever is the political equivalent of sitting and farting on their heads so they will think twice about pulling this stunt again.
Don't blink, Mr. President. But do fart on their heads, so to speak.
Sincerely,
Black Woman Blogging
When boys wrestle, especially brothers, the ultimate in victory is for the winning boy to not only sit on head of the defeated boy, but to fart on his head as well. In families, it's usually the older brother who ends up sitting and farting on the head of his younger brother as a deterrent to future challenges. Mr. President, you didn't grow up with brothers, but there's a lesson to be learned from the wrestling of boys.
But first, Mr. President, I have a message for you from my sister regarding this standoff with congressional Republicans: Don't blink.
In this standoff/government shutdown, there's far more at stake than just a budget or the debt ceiling. As you've so aptly put it, what is at stake is the ability to govern without being forced into false crises created by a small contingent of Republicans who are out of step with the majority of the nation. So my sister's advice to you, Mr. President, is to continue to stand toe-to-toe with them and don't even think about blinking. Don't flinch. Stand your ground. Which leads to a message from me:
Don't just sit on their heads; fart on their heads.
I, like so many other Americans, am so weary of Tea Party efforts to derail the Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare." It's the law. They need to get over it and move on. The rest of the country has. Given that many of these representatives represent broke-ass states with people who desperately need health care (and could stand to back away from the fast food joints and processed foods in general) but fear anything with the word "Obama" in it, they ought to just move on. But shutting down the government and threatening the first U.S. government default ever? Now that deserves not just sitting on their heads, but farting on them, too.
The Republicans know they have backed themselves into a corner and are looking for a way out. They know that, the longer this goes on, the more dim their hopes become of recapturing the White House in 2016. They know all of this, but like a little brother wrestling his older, bigger brother, they don't know how to get out of this political headlock that will eventually lead to the political equivalent of you not just sitting on their heads, but farting on them as well.
When they capitulate, and they will, Mr. President, take that victory lap. Do whatever is the political equivalent of sitting and farting on their heads so they will think twice about pulling this stunt again.
Don't blink, Mr. President. But do fart on their heads, so to speak.
Sincerely,
Black Woman Blogging
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