I am worried about my grade.

It's that time of year.

Carry on, folks.

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Conservative voices Republicans can't hear

Trump: "uniquely unfit"

     As this column has said before, the problem isn’t that [Trump] does not know this or that, or that he does not know that he does not know this or that. Rather, the dangerous thing is that he does not know what it is to know something.
. . .
     [I]t is up to the public to quarantine this presidency by insistently communicating to its elected representatives a steady, rational fear of this man whose combination of impulsivity and credulity render him uniquely unfit to take the nation into a military conflict.

—George Will, May 3

"The country ... believes in universal [health] coverage"

     "Whether it will end up single-payer, like in the Canadian system, or not, I'm not sure, but I will guarantee you this: … Within a few years there won't even be an argument about whether or not government has an obligation to ensure that everybody gets health coverage."

—Charles Krauthammer, May 5

It's grand and it's old and it's depraved

Pleased as punch

Tips For Not Condemning Millions Of Americans To Sickness And Death
(The Onion)

As the debate over Obamacare rages on and insurance costs continue to rise, Americans consider how best to improve the country’s healthcare system. Here are the The Onion’s tips for not condemning millions of Americans to sickness and death:

It's sooooo good!

• Read the thing you’re voting on, particularly if you’ve heard someone mention that it might end up killing millions of people.
• Do your research: Find out if any of the people you are paid to represent are human beings who use healthcare.
• Try to better understand the concerns of your constituents by dying a slow, painful death while bankrupting your entire family.
• See if you can recall any reason besides an all-consuming sense of self-importance and knee-jerk lust for personal financial gain that might once have motivated you to seek public office.
• Check whether or not a single medical professional, patient advocate, economist, or literally anyone familiar with the subject in question supports the legislation you’re about to vote in favor of.
• If respect for human life doesn’t interest you, try to remember that sick and indigent people are, at this point, still legally allowed to vote.
• Acknowledge that serving in public office sometimes means putting aside your personal beliefs about how all poor people deserve to die in a wet ditch.
• Consider going through the millions of years of natural selection and incremental evolutionary advancements necessary to develop a rudimentary backbone.
• Find the nearest mirror; look in the mirror; check to see if you are a greasy, entitled fuck….

Before the Deluge

IVC: May 5, 2016.

Rebel Girl recalls the LA Riots in today's LA Times

Officers stand guard as fire units battle a blaze near 19th Street and Adams Boulevard on
April 30, 1992. (Los Angeles Times)

Rebel Girl leads off today's LA Times commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the L.A. Riots, "Twenty five years later, how did the riots transform L.A.? And has the city changed enough?"

Her essay, "The riots are an L.A. story, but one that tells the future for the rest of the country," offers her view from, yes, the little college in the orange groves. She was honored that an Times editor asked her to write something for the occasion.

excerpt:

In late April when the jacarandas bloom, I recall the 1992 riots. Back then, I saw the purple flowering trees as if for the first time, their blooms bright against L.A.’s ashy streets.

I spent the evening that April 29 downtown, across from Parker Center with first hundreds, then thousands who gathered, outraged at the acquittal of four LAPD officers charged in the beating of Rodney King.

Two weeks later, I interviewed for a teaching position at a little community college in the orange groves of Irvine. Driving down the 405, I couldn’t help but consider the white flight that had followed that route after the 1965 Watts riots. I am neither especially white nor especially flighty. But there that history was, like worrying smoke in the rearview mirror.

I got the job. I made the move.

To read the rest, click here.

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White House Proposes Slashing Tax Rates, Significantly Aiding Wealthy
(NYT)

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday proposed sharp reductions in individual and business income tax rates and a radical reordering of the tax code that would significantly benefit the wealthy, but he offered no explanation of how the plan would be financed as he rushed to show progress before the 100-day mark of his presidency.